Vivian Martin
American actress (1893–1987)
Vivian Louise Martin (July 22, 1891 – March 16, 1987) was an American stage and silent film actress.
Early life and career
Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Martin was the daughter of Grace Gibbs and actor George Herbert Martin. She began her career as a child actress on the stage with comedian Lew Fields.
In 1901, at age 10, Martin made her stage debut alongside Richard Mansfield in Cyrano de Bergerac. Two years later, she played the title character in Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Other early stage credits include Stop Thief, Officer 666, and The Only Son, as well as the title role in Peter Pan, which Martin played for two years after succeeding Maude Adams. Her work on Broadway began with Tom Moore (1901) and ended with Marry the Man (1929).
A blonde, Martin entered the motion picture industry in 1914. Her first role was in The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England (1914) for the World Film Company, in which she played Sally, a parson's daughter. Martin subsequently became a contract player for the Famous Players Film Company, where she achieved popularity as a rival to Mary Pickford.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Vivian Martin” as american actress (1893–1987). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actress (1893–1987). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7937743. VIAF identifies the subject as 2414372. The Library of Congress control number is nr2003032002. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1891, 1987, 1901 and 1929.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vivian Martin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.