Mabel Normand Biography

The Beginning: 1893 - 1908

Mabel Normand was born November 9, 1893 in a house her father built on Tyson Street on Staten Island, New York. Mabel was only 14 when she started working as an artist's model. Within a year she was working full time for the renowned artists, James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson.

The Beginning: 1893 - 1908
Mabel Normand was born November 9, 1893 in a house her father built on Tyson Street on Staten Island, New York. Mabel was only 14 when she started working as an artist's model. Within a year she was working full time for the renowned artists, James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson.

Start in Films: 1909 - 1911

Mabel first appeared on film as an extra at KALEM Film Studios. She found steady work in movies at Biograph Studios working with D. W. Griffith and appeared in a large number of Biograph films. The Library of Congress has copies of many of these. She fell in love with fellow actor and sometime director, Mack Sennett. She also made a series of films with Vitagraph Studios as "Vitagraph Betty." The 1911 film with John Bunny called The Troublesome Secretaries is still available.

Start in Films: 1909 - 1911
Mabel first appeared on film as an extra at KALEM Film Studios. She found steady work in movies at Biograph Studios working with D. W. Griffith and appeared in a large number of Biograph films. The Library of Congress has copies of many of these. She fell in love with fellow actor and sometime director, Mack Sennett. She also made a series of films with Vitagraph Studios as "Vitagraph Betty." The 1911 film with John Bunny called The Troublesome Secretaries is still available.