Mabel Rushton

(b. Dover, **/**/1874? – d. Johannesburg, **/**/1942). Actress. There is nothing terribly certain about the early years of Mabel Ada Rushton. According to the Who’s Who in South Africa of 1939, she was born in Dover and educated in Ottawa, while another source suggests that she may have been a theatrical designer. She is also said to have acted with Ethel Irving. What is certain is that in 1897 she married J. Langley Levy and in 1910 accompanied him to South Africa when he became the editor of The Sunday Times. “Mrs. J. Langley Levy” is listed as having acted in The Madcap of the Veld (Joseph Albrecht/1920) and the “Mabel Rushta” mentioned by Filmverlede as appearing in Gloria (Lorimer Johnston/1916) was probably also her. In addition she had a small part in the epic De Voortrekkers (Harold M. Shaw/1916). She died in 1942, a few weeks after her husband had retired. The couple had four children, three daughters and a son (though the Who’s Who in South Africa claims there were five.) (FO)

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