Background
Edna May was born on September 2, 1878 in Syracuse, New York, United States. She was a daughter of Edger and Cora Pettie. Her father was a United States Postal Service letter carrier.
Edna May was born on September 2, 1878 in Syracuse, New York, United States. She was a daughter of Edger and Cora Pettie. Her father was a United States Postal Service letter carrier.
She studied music at the New York Conservatoire as a teenager.
A popular postcard beauty, May was famous for her leading roles in Edwardian musical comedies. Her surname at birth was spelled Pettie, but the family later changed the name, by the 1880 census, to Petty. Her siblings were Edelbert, Jennie and Marguerite. At the age of 5, she played Little Willie Allen in a production of Dora. By the age of 7, she had joined a children"s opera company and performed Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Syracuse. May made her professional debut in 1895 in Si Stebbings in Syracuse.
She then moved to New York to take the small role of Clairette in Oscar Hammerstein"s Broadway show, Santa Maria. In 1897, May played Violet Grey in The Belle of New York with only moderate success.
The following year, the production played in London, becoming a hit and running for 697 performances, making May a star. After that, among others, she played Gabrielle Dalmonte in An American Beauty in London (1900), Olga in The Girl from Up There (1901) in New York and then London, Edna Branscombe in Three Little Maids (1902), Lillian Leigh in The School Girl (1903–1904) in London and New York, Say-So-San in The Darling of the Guards (1904) in London, Alesia in Louisiana Poupée (1904) in London, and Angela in The Catch of the Season (1905) in New New York The Belle of Mayfair followed in London in 1906. May played the title character in Nelly Neil in London in 1907.
May was known for her beauty and received tremendous attention from male admirers. May lived at Winkfield in Berkshire during her retirement, but made brief returns to the stage in 1911 benefit performances of The Belle of New York at the Savoy Theatre in London and 1915"s The Masque of Peace and War in London. Also in 1911, she appeared in the film Forgotten. Or An Answered Prayer. She starred in a 1916 film called Salvation Joan, donating the proceeds to charity.
In 1907 she agreed to marry millionaire Oscar Lewisohn. They had no children.