Maude Eburne

Maude Eburne (born Maud Eburne Riggs, November 10, 1875 – October 15, 1960) was a Canadian character actress of stage and screen, known for playing eccentric roles.

Eburne was born the daughter of John and Mary Riggs, in Bronte-on-the-Lake, Ontario. She studied elocution in Toronto.

The death of Eburne's father in 1901 was a catalyst for her entry into acting as a profession. She said that he would not have approved a stage career for her and added, "If my father knew I was on the stage, he would not rest in peace."

Eburne began her career in stock theater in Buffalo, New York. Her early theater work was in Ontario^{[citation needed]} and New York City, debuting on Broadway to great acclaim as "Coddles" in the 1914 farce A Pair of Sixes. "When I first came to New York... I said I didn't want to be beautiful young girls or stately leading women, but wanted parts that had something queer in them, especially if there were dialect."

She continued to play mainly humorous domestic roles on stage, appearing in productions such as The Half Moon (1920), Lady Butterfly (1923), Three Cheers (1928) and Many a Slip (1930), before her first significant film role — and first sound film role — in The Bat Whispers (1930), director Roland West's sound remake of his 1926 silent feature The Bat.

Eugene J. Hall married Eburne "in about 1905". They had a daughter, Marion Birdseye Hall, in 1907. He died in 1932.

Eburne retired in 1951.

Eburne died on October 15, 1960, in Hollywood, California, at age 84.