---
name: "Margaret Livingston"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/margaret-livingston"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "24 November 1895"
died: "13 December 1984"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T11:26:31.515997+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Margaret Livingston

Actor. Born 24 November 1895 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Died 13 December 1984.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 24 November 1895, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- **Died:** 13 December 1984
- **Also known as:** Marguerite Livingston, Margaret Livingstone, Marguerite Livingstone

## Fi1m on Margaret Livingston

> Margaret Livingston’s familiar territory was the worldly woman who disturbs a household. In *Sunrise*, she helps make a broad melodrama persuasive, though we wish the writing gave her more to want beyond its troubled husband.

In *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* (1927), Margaret Livingston is The Woman from the City, defined before she has much chance to define herself. She helps make the husband’s temptation credible in a melodrama whose actors are often more convincing than its writing. We rate her contribution, though the part gives us too little to judge a whole career by. It is worth watching what she is asked to represent alongside what George O’Brien is allowed to feel.

Her casting in F. W. Murnau’s film drew on an established line of work: sophisticated urban women who unsettle domestic life. After beginning in films in 1916, she appeared in more than fifty silent-era productions, often in supporting parts or as the vamp. Those parts took her through comedies as well as melodramas; the disruptive woman was useful to both. *The Last Warning* (1928), in which she played Evalynda Hendon, belongs to the later silent work, but *Sunrise* remains her most remembered role.

The imbalance in *Sunrise* is plain when the three principal performances are considered together. O’Brien gives the husband’s divided feelings an uncomfortable bodily weight, while Janet Gaynor makes the wife’s vulnerability matter through her quiet expression of hurt. We were moved by Gaynor’s restraint, and frustrated that Livingston was given so little opportunity to make her woman’s wants count. These are strong performances in a moving film, but neither woman gets the husband’s freedom to be complicated.

Livingston did move into sound, with *Smart Money* (1931) giving her a supporting role as the District Attorney’s Girl alongside Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. She appeared in around twenty sound films before retiring from acting in 1934, so the change of technology did not simply end her employment. Even that character name suggests how readily her parts were described through their connection to somebody else. Start with *Sunrise*, but give Livingston some of the attention the screenplay reserves for its husband.

## Biography

Margaret Livingston (born Marguerite Livingston; 25 November 1895 – 13 December 1984) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as the Woman from the City in F. W. Murnau's *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* (1927).

Livingston appeared in films from 1916 to 1934, working mainly in the silent era and successfully transitioning to sound films. She was sometimes credited as Marguerite Livingstone or Margaret Livingstone. She was married to bandleader Paul Whiteman from 1931 until his death in 1967.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* (1927), Fi1m 88, as The Woman from the City — [page](https://film.one/film/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans.md)

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/margaret-livingston