Mae Busch

Mae Busch (June 18, 1891 – April 20, 1946) was an Australian film actress, born in Melbourne, Australia, who worked in both silent and sound films in early Hollywood. Mae was a member of a musical family. She first appeared on stage and then in vaudeville.

Busch moved to America in 1900, she worked at Keystone Studios and, most memorably, with Laurel and Hardy at the Hal Roach Studios. At Keystone, her dalliance with studio chief Mack Sennett famously ended his engagement to actress Mabel Normand when Normand allegedly walked in on the pair. According to some accounts of the incident, Mae inflicted a serious head injury on Normand by striking her with a vase (she was known for pinpoint throwing accuracy!)

At the pinnacle of her film career Mae was known as the versatile vamp. After being absent from films for some years Miss Busch returned to make Masquerade in Mexico and Stork Club, both in 1945. She had roles in approximately one hundred and thirty motion pictures beginning with The Agitator and The Water Nymph, both released in 1912.

Mae Busch died in 1946, age 54, at a San Fernando Valley sanitarium where she had been ill for five months. She was the wife of Thomas C. Tate, a civil engineer. Their residence was 1219 North Beechwood Drive, Los Angeles, California. Funeral arrangements were carried out by Pierce Brothers Hollywood Mortuary.