The Girl with Bee-Stung Lips

Who was the Girl with Bee-Stung Lips? Mae Murray (1885-1965) cleaned the house of millionaire Harry Payne Whitney at just eleven years old, after her father died of alcoholism. Joining the Ziegfeld chorus line, Murray danced her way to the top with diamond headdresses and sparkling costumes. Murray was a Ziegfeld girl, screenwriter, film studio founder and superstar. Amassing a fortune of $3 million by 1926 ($84 million today), Murray was bankrupted by her fraudster playboy fourth husband, David "Prince" Mdivani. Mdivani was insatiable in his desire to ruin Mae, and the 1940s saw the Mdivanis appear in court repeatedly arguing for the future of their son, Koran (later Daniel Michael Cunning). Learn more about the founder of Tiffany Pictures and "Gardenia of the Screen" Mae Murray.

Murray's interviews from 1960 are available on YouTube, and you can hear her American-German accent very well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g78qzXRDyiE

Sources:

Ankerich, Michael G. (2012). Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips. Brownlow, Kevin. University Press of Kentucky. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-813-13690-5.

"Film Star Obtains Divorce", Motion Picture World, August 31, 1918, pg. 1239

"Star of silent film days found wandering, lost". Ottawa Citizen. February 21, 1964. Retrieved February 3, 2013.

"Mae Murray Sues for Son's Custody: Asserts Up-State Family R