Born Mary Warren Anglin on April 3rd, 1876 in Ottawa, Ontario, it was as Margaret Anglin she found Broadway success. The youngest of nine children of newspaper editor and politician Timothy Warren Anglin (1822–1896) by his second wife, Ellen MacTavish it doesn’t seem much of her child hood destined her for the stage except being held by Oscar Wilde, novelist cum playwright, a guest of her father, when she was six years old,  probably during Wilde’s first visit to America via the SS Arizona in 1882, when he conducted a 140 Lecture Tour across North America (US and Canada).

Her parents then sent to her Toronto and Loretto Abbey and then the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Montreal. There are not any records that record Mary’s sudden love of the stage, but perhaps there was a high school paly that she was in that sparked the interest because next we find her is graduating from the Empire School of Dramatic Acting, New York City in 1894. Located within the Chas. Frohman Empire Theatre, she studied under Nelson Wheatcroft, a famous actor turned dramatic teacher.

Under his tutelage, her acting skills brought the attention of the impresario Charles Frohman who provided her with the opportunity to make her professional stage debut. She changed her name to Margaret Anglin because it took up more billboard space, and in the Bronson Howard production of “Shenandoah,” the Civil War pacificist play, she won wide acclaim.

                                                 The Anglin-Hull Marriage

Miss Anglin met future husband, Howard Hull of Kentucky, presumably through the business though little is know about his career but his brothers were all in theatre so we must imagine it was through various connections they met. The couple was married May 9, 1911 in New York City at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Her Part of Fortune Marriage is conjunct her Saturn as is the Part of Legality and it was through her nuptials she became an American citizen.

Most of Broadway attended the gala affair as did some nascent movie stars most likely because the couple was well connected: Hull was the older brother both of Shelly (husband of Josephine Hull of Arsenic and Old Lace & Harvey fame) and Henry the John Ford character actor. and while he is listed as an actor, but little could be found on Howard’s career or Shelly’s.

Hull became her manager, and so took a backstage to his talented wife, who was center stage acting or backstage herself producing, and directing many Broadway plays that were typically large affairs with huge casts, elaborate sets and best of all, great reviews.  Then in 1927 Margaret began making demands (the Thor’s Hammer from the Sun to the Moon to Jupiter strikes supported by part of self-undoing conjunct her ascendant) that Howard, be given parts in her plays, it was not an unusual request Hollywood is filled with nepotism but they denied her request. Furious, she walked out of two major productions despite the entreaties and adverse publicity.

Broadway got its revenge and for eight long years she did get any Broadway work until Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies), a Broadway sensation, cast her in 1936 in his Fresh Fields plays where she once again she received great critical acclaim. Author Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett’s wife, put Anglin in Watch on the Rhine at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto.

               Mapping Margaret M. Anglin

Download the Margaret Mary Anglin chart

Rectification to Slave Girl demanding her Rights

We rectified Miss Anglin’s birth time to 8:05 in Toronto and that seems to fit her career and life well and gives her the Ascendant of 11 Gemini or a slave girl demanding her rights which fits well as she was not only the actor on stage but often also the director & producer and probably the first woman to fill these roles simultaneously and successfully (Mary Pickford followed suit in film).

Anglin is a locomotive. A mutable T-Square from the first house stellium to the seventh gets a point focus in the tenth at Saturn in 03 Pisces 55 highlighting both her Line of Momentum and restless spirit accentuated by her Grand Trine in Fire. Her Harmonic 7th Chart shows a mutable Grand Cross that reflects as both a woman and a foreigner she was bitter about her second standing. Anglin’s Line of Motivation, Jupiter to Saturn, focuses on her growth within partnerships, like with her husband Howard. and later Novello. Perhaps both those issues had her force her hand with Howard in the play, knowing that men often put their lovers in roles ahead of talented actors.

Both charts show her strong preponderance toward water signs, a good barometer for the acting life, and Jupiter in the seventh highlights her facility to juggle unique roles easily. Her Sun is trine her Moon in the fourth house demonstrates her knowledge of both the physical setup of the stage and public reaction to fuel her inner creativity and with her Moon sextile, her Ascendant in the first house it gives her the ability to play different roles as she needs to fulfill her dreams. 

After her husband  died, Miss Anglin returned to Canadian Theatre where she reposed on January 7, 1958. Despite her friendship with Mary Pickford, she did not make any moving pictures.