Mabel Rushton

Mabel Rushton (b. Dover, Kent, **/**/1877 – d. Johannesburg, 23/03/1942) was an actress.

Biography

Mabel Ada Rushton was born in Dover and moved to Canada with her parents, where she was educated. Her father, Edward Rushton, was with the Royal Army Medical Corps. It is claimed that, as a child, she took part in a play with Wilson Barrett and upon her return to England she continued with her acting career. While in Liverpool she met Joseph Levy and the couple married in 1897. In 1910 the renamed J. Langley Levy became the editor of the Sunday Times and in October the couple and their family moved to South Africa. In Johannesburg Mr. and Mrs. Langley Levy featured prominently on the social scene and she was involved in many charities. She maintained her interest in the theatre, but her stage appearances were limited. She is known to have acted in Lady Frederick, with Edith Irving, Hindle Wakes and Kultur at Home, all in 1916. Her film appearances stem from the same period: Gloria (Lorimer Johnston/1916), De Voortrekkers (Harold M. Shaw/1916) and The Madcap of the Veld (Joseph Albrecht/1920). She also acted in her husband’s potted versions of East Lynne and Hamlet for the Johannesburg War Market in 1917. She died in 1942, just a few weeks after her husband had retired. The couple had four children, three daughters (including the actress June Langley and author/fashion historian Doris Langley Moore) and a son who died in 1933.