Julia Hurley (actress)

Julia R. Hurley
Hurley (sitting on bench, right) on lobby card for Little Women, 1918.
BornMay 11, 1848
New York City, U.S.[1]
DiedJune 4, 1927 (aged 79)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1909-1926 (films)

Julia R. Hurley (May 11, 1848 – June 4, 1927)[citation needed] was an American actress who found popularity in her senior years in silent films. She is best remembered today as the 'landlady with the lamp' in the John Barrymore classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1920, a role for which she is uncredited. This film is her most readily available film today.

Hurley's film debut occurred in Corporal Truman's War Story when she was 63 years old.[2] She worked for many of the early film studios i.e.: Biograph, Kalem, Essanay, Reliance, Imp, Champion and Solax.[citation needed] On Broadway, she portrayed Mrs. Coberg in Blossom Time.[3]

As with most people born in the Victorian era, Hurley probably enjoyed a theatrical career acting in provinces or regional theatre and touring before making her first film in 1909. She continued with films until 1926.[4]

She died June 4, 1927, of chronic myocarditis and nephritis.[5]

  1. ^ Silent Film Necrology 2nd Edition p.258, by Eugene M. Vazzana, c.2001
  2. ^ "Movie opportunity for woman aged 63". The Missoulian. Montana, Missoula. January 17, 1926. p. 15. Retrieved January 10, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Julia Hurley". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on January 10, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  4. ^ Who Was Who on Screen 3rd Edition p.361, by Evelyn Mack Truitt, c.1983
  5. ^ Vazzana, Eugene M. ..p.258