{{short description|American actors}} {{use mdy dates|date=March 2022}} {{multiple image | total_width = 400 | image1 = Stage actor Max Figman (SAYRE 686).jpg | alt1 = | image2 =Lolita Robertson (SAYRE 12558) (cropped).jpg | alt2 = | footer = }} {{Infobox person | name = Max Figman, Lolita Robertson | birth_date = March 9, 1866, March 7, 1888 | birth_place = Vienna, Austria, San Francisco | death_date = February 13, 1952, May 1, 1959 | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1905-1932, 1912-1923 | notable_works = ''The Man on the Box'', ''What's His Name'', ''Jack Chanty'', ''The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford'' }} '''Max Figman''' (March 9, 1866 – February 13, 1952), born in Vienna, Austria, and '''Lolita Robertson''' (March 7, 1888 – May 1, 1959) born in San Francisco, were a husband and wife acting duo who appeared on Broadway and in silent films together. Max was also a director and writer in his stage career. Max was 22 years Lolita's senior but the couple was long married and devoted to each other until Max's death in 1952. Max died on February 13, 1952, in a nursing home in Bayside, Queens, called Edgewater Rest, at the age of 85.<ref name=NYT>{{Cite news|title=Max Figman, Actor, Had Many Top Roles S|work=The New York Times|date=February 14, 1952|page=27 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/112386130|access-date=March 16, 2022|id={{ProQuest|112386130}} |url-access=subscription}}</ref> They had two children, Max Jr. and Lolita Figman.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731939/ Lolita Robertson biography], ''IMDb''<br>- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276578/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Max Figman biography], ''IMDb''<br> – {{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19130226&id=s-FVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZuADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6892,5704386 |work=The Spokesman-Review|date=February 26, 1913|title=Lolita Robertson Finds time to Be a Star and an Old-Fashioned Mother|author=Margaret Hubbard Ayer|via=Google}}</ref>
Max and Lolita appeared in a hit play ''Fine Feathers'' in 1913 co-starring Wilton Lackaye and Robert Edeson.<ref>Daniel Blum, ''Pictorial History of the American Theatre: 1860–1970'' p. 140 c. 1970; originally 1958, 1970 edition enlarged by John Willis</ref> They made a few films with the short-lived Masterpiece Film Manufacturing Company.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnzsAgAAQBAJ&q=%22reliance.film+corporation%22+figman&pg=PA123|title = The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry|isbn = 9781135925543|last1 = Slide|first1 = Anthony|date = 25 February 2014| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
The couple sat in on the formation of The Lasky Company in 1914, later to be Paramount Pictures.<ref>Daniel Blum, ''Pictorial History of the Silent Screen'' p.54 c.1952</ref> In silent pictures, the husband and wife often appeared together.
==Max stage career== Max made his stage debut at 17 in ''A Scrap of Paper'' (1883). He later joined the company of Willie Edouin in ''Fun in a Photographic Gallery'' and appeared in four plays with Mrs. Fiske: ''Miranda of the Balcony'', ''A Doll's House'', ''Hedda Gabler'' and ''Mary of Magdala''. In 1905–06, he supported Florence Roberts in ''Ann La Mont'' and ''The Strength of the Weak''. He became a star in the play version of ''The Man on the Box'', filmed in 1914 by Cecil B. DeMille. From 1909 to 1910, he toured in ''Mary Jane's Pa'' and in February 1912 was at Daly's Theatre New York in ''The Truth Wagon''. He began his relationship with Lolita Robertson while in the play ''Fine Feathers'', first at the Cort Theatre, Chicago, in August 1912, and finally in New York at the Astor Theatre in January 1913.<ref>''Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976'' vol. 2 D-H p. 835, originally published annually by John Parker; 1976 edition by Gale Research Company</ref> His final performance before his death was ''The DuBarry'' on Broadway in 1932, playing the role of Louis XV.<ref name=NYT/>
== Lolita stage career == When the originally cast actress in ''Fine Feathers'', Alice Stone, fell sick, Lolita was offered her role of Jane Reynolds. Eugene Walter asked her to read Alice's part during rehearsal and she was later offered the role. At the time, Max and Lolita had a two-month-old infant, so she initially turned down the offer. After spending time reading the part during rehearsals, she took the role.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leading Woman By Accident: Lolita Robertson Finds Herself on Broadway After an Unusual Proceeding – Some Western Experiences|work=The New York Times |date=January 19, 1913|page=X6|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/97400219|access-date=March 16, 2022|id={{ProQuest|97400219}} |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Filmography== {{col-begin}} {{col-break}} '''Max Figman''' *''The Man on the Box'' (1914) *''What's His Name'' (1914) *''The Hoosier Schoolmaster'' (1914) *''The Truth Wagon'' (1914) *''Jack Chanty'' (1915) *''My Best Girl'' (1915) *''The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford'' (1915, short) *''The Bungalow Bungle'' (1915, short) *''Three Rings and a Goat'' (1915, short) *''A Rheumatic Joint'' (1915, short) *''The Master Stroke'' (1915, short) *''The Lilac Splash'' (1915, short) *''A Trap for Trapp'' (1915, short) *''A Bang Sun Engine'' (1915, short) *''A Transaction in Summer Boarders'' (1915, short) *''Detective Blackie'' (1915, short) *''Apples and Eggbeaters'' (1915, short) *''A Stony Deal'' (1915, short) *''Buying a Bank with Bunk'' (1915, short) *''The Missing Heir'' (1915, short) *''Lord Southpaugh'' (1916, short) *''He Wouldn't Wear Glasses'' (1916, short) *''Monomania'' (1917, short) *''Old Home Week'' (1925) *''It Happened in Paris'' (1932) {{col-break}} '''Lolita Robertson''' *''The Man on the Box'' (1914) *''What's His Name'' (1914) *''The Hoosier Schoolmaster'' (1914) *''The Truth Wagon'' (1914) *''Jack Chanty'' (1915) *''The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford'' (1915, short) *''The Bungalow Bungle'' (1915, short) *''Three Rings and a Goat'' (1915, short) *''A Rheumatic Joint'' (1915, short) *''The Master Stroke'' (1915, short) *''The Lilac Splash'' (1915, short) *''A Trap for Trapp'' (1915, short) *''A Bang Sun Engine'' (1915, short) *''A Transaction in Summer Boarders'' (1915, short) *''Detective Blackie'' (1915, short) *''Apples and Eggbeaters'' (1915, short) *''A Stony Deal'' (1915, short) *''Buying a Bank with Bunk'' (1915, short) *''The Missing Heir'' (1915, short) *''Lord Southpaugh'' (1916, short) *''No Mother to Guide Her'' (1923) {{col-end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Max Figman}} {{commons category|Lolita Robertson}} *{{IMDb name|0276578|Max Figman}} *{{IBDB name|7651|Max Figman}} *{{IMDb name|0731939|Lolita Robertson}} *{{IBDB name|58028|Lolita Robertson}} *[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/sayre/searchterm/lolita%20robertson/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ Lolita portrait gallery] (University of Washington, Sayre collection) *[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/sayre/searchterm/max%20figman/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ Max Figman portrait gallery] (University of Washington, Sayre collection) *[http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/macauley/id/739/rec/1 Lolita Robertson portrait] (University of Louisville, Macauley Theatre collection) *[http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/var/0100/0168/0168r.jpg Max Figman] when he was under the management of John Cort *[https://assets.mubi.com/images/film/27520/image-w1280.jpg?1445873190 Max and Lolita] in a scene from the film ''What's His Name'' {{authority control|additional=auto}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Figman, Max and Robertson, Lolita}} Category:Married couples Category:Entertainer duos Category:Film duos Category:American stage actors Category:American stage actresses Category:Austrian stage actors Category:Austrian emigrants to the United States Category:1913 establishments in New York City