Mae Costello

Short Biography

Mae Costello (b. 1882 - August 2, 1929) was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth-century.Born Mae Altschuk in Brooklyn, New York, she was the daughter of Lewis Altschuk and Catherine Callender. As a teenager she began performing in stage productions in stock theater companies throughout the United States. In 1902 she married the actor Maurice Costello and the couple would have two daughters, Helene Costello and Dolores Costello. Both daughters would become successful film actresses. The couple would separate in 1910, however they would not officially divorce until 1927.She began appearing in motion pictures in the early 1910s, billed as Mrs. Costello, and appeared opposite such actors as John Bunny, Flora Finch, Wallace Reid, Florence Turner, Antonio Moreno and Clara Kimball Young, as well as her husband and daughters.In 1929, Mae Costello died of heart disease and was interred at the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California. Her daughter Dolores would marry actor John Barrymore, a marriage that neither Mae nor ex husband approved of, as Barrymore was not only over twenty years older than Dolores, he was also older than Mae Costello. Her grandson was actor John Drew Barrymore and her great-granddaughter is actress Drew Barrymore.