Marshall Stedman (August 16, 1874 – December 16, 1943) was an American stage and silent screen actor/director, playwright, author and drama teacher.
Early life Edward Marshall Stedman Jr. was born in Bethel, Maine, the son of Edward Sr. and Eliza Putnam (née Rice) Stedman.Marshall Stedman – WWI Draft Registration – Ancestry.com scanWho's Who in the Film World - edited by Fred C. Justice &Tom R. Smith - Film World Publishing – 1914 - pg. 42 His father was a decorated naval officer who at the time of his death in 1939 had been the oldest surviving graduate of the United States Naval Academy and one of only three retired naval officers who saw service during the American Civil War.Edward Stedman, Naval Officer, 94 New York Times - October 17, 1939; pg. 25 Stedman received his early education in Chicago at South Division High School and the Harvard Preparatory School before attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs.California and Californians: Volume 3, Rockwell Dennis Hunt, Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, Rockwell - 1926 - pg. 279 - Google Books
Career Stedman began his theater career at around the age of eighteen with William Morris’ stock company playing Bob Appleton in Ludwig Fulda’s three-act drama The Lost Paradise, and Ned Annesley in Sowing the Wind, a four-act play by Sydney Grundy. He later joined E. H. Sothern for two seasons and went on to star in a number of one-act plays and tour in Shakespearean repertoire productions.
For some years around 1900 Stedman lived in Gilpin County, Colorado with his father, sister Agnes, grandmother Miriam, uncle Josiah Stedman and later his wife Myrtle. News reports of the day indicated his family was involved in a mining venture near America City called the Charlemagne Lode.Gilpin County Mines Items of Interest from All Parts of the County - Weekly Register-Call, (Central City, CO) Friday, December 01, 1899; Issue 26; col. CGilpin County Mines The Lombard at Yankee Hill Opening out into a Big Mine - Weekly Register-Call, (Central City, CO) Friday, July 21, 1899; Issue 7; col BStedman, Gilpin County, Co. – 1900 US Census – Ancestry.com scan
In 1906, Stedman was named head of the drama school at the Chicago Musical College, a position he would hold for some four years. Later he spent a season in vaudeville before venturing into film work as a director with Essanay Studios and later the Selig Polyscope Company, as an actor, director, writer and producer. Several years later Stedman returned to teaching as a drama instructor with the Eagan School of Drama and Music in Los Angeles.
In the years that followed, Marshall Stedman would continue to teach, act and write. He played a number of villain roles in films made by Hobart Bosworth and returned to the stage in community theater productions performed by his students, often in plays he wrote. In the late 1920s Stedman founded the Marshall Stedman School of Drama and Elocution in Culver City, California.
Marriage On January 13, 1900, Marshall Stedman married in Chicago Myrtle C. Lincoln, a young actress not yet seventeen. Lincoln Stedman,Lincoln's birth year is often given as 1906 or 1907. The 1910 and 1920 census records indicate though, the event actually occurred around 1902 their only child, was born in 1907 and would go on to have his own career in Hollywood. Stedman and his wife separated around 1919 and a divorce soon followed.Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920 – Ancestry.comMyrtle Stedman Divorced -The Sandusky Star Journal - October 25, 1919; pg. 5 – Ancestry.com scanNews Notes from Movieland by Daisy Dean - The Sandusky Star Journal November 27, 1920 pg. 4, Ancestry.com scan He later married Rieka Kulaars, a native of The Netherlands.
Death Marshall Stedman died at the age of 69 on December 16, 1943, in Laguna Beach. He was survived by his son Lincoln who would die himself before the close of the decade.Rights For Ex-Actor - San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) Sunday, December 19, 1943 - Pg. 12California Death Index Edward Marshall Stedman – Ancestry.comLincoln Stedman - New York Times, March 23, 1948; pg. 25
Selected works Steadman starred in Circumstantial Evidence (1912), directed by Otis Thayer and produced by Selig Polyscope. Considered long lost it is included in the Dawson Film Find with excerpts and a reference in the documentary Dawson City : Frozen in Time (2016).
List compiled from Google Books and Amazon.com What a Kiss Can Do: And Other Recitations for Children, 1925 Readings and Encores for Children and Grown-Ups, 1926 Readings and Sketches for Boys, 1927 Monologues, Distinctive and Different, 1927 Samanthy's Suitors: A Character Sketch for a Lady, 1928 Clever Monologues, 1928 Sure-Fire Monologues, 1928 Loving Lunatics: A Farce Comedy in One Act, 1929 The Missionary to Zulu Land: A Farce Comedy on One Act, 1929 Tonic: A farce in One Act, 1929 Out of the Storm: A play in One Act for Two Women, 1929 Unique Monologues and Recitations for Children, 1929 Mr. Santa Claus: A Play in One Act, 1930 Marshall Stedman's New Book of Readings and Monologues, 1931 Speakin' Day: A Comedy of School Days in One Act, 1931 A Shot in The Dark: A Comedy Mystery-Drama in One Act, 1931 The Bloom of Youth: A Farce Comedy in One Act for Three Women, 1931 The Hoodooed Hindu: A Farce Comedy in One Act, 1931 Readings and Recitations for Special Days, 1931 Fifty-Fifty: A Comedy Drama in One Act, 1931 Clever Sketches for Short Casts, 1932 Twelve Little Plays for Two Little Players, 1932 The Old Bachelor's Christmas: A Dramatic Reading (Banner plays), 1932 Stedman's Readings and Monologues for Children: A Collection of Forty-Eight Readings, Monologues, Recitations, Encores, Play-O-Logues and Novelty Acts, 1932 Thirty-Two Readings, Monologues and Play-O-Logues for Grown-Ups, 1934 Amusing Monologues, 1940 Eight Two Character Stunt Plays, 1946
External links Myrtle and Marshall Stedman pose on skis near the mining town of American City (Gilpin County), April 1, 1900 Denver Public Library Digital Collection
Sources