May McAvoy My 3rd Cousin!! Yes she was a silent star pulling down $3,000 a week

At this point, legendary director and mogul Cecil B. DeMille came calling, but wanted her to do nudity in a film; May refused, and was shunned by the industry for a short time, especially Paramount, to whom she was bound by contract. She was, though, “lent out” to do a film called Her Reputation in 1923, and at this point May made the wise decision of buying out of her contract to do freelance work. Interestingly, she had her first freelance successes at Paramount, making West of the Water Tower and The Enchanted Cottage in 1924, both on the East Coast. In the next couple of years, she made some outstanding films by shopping herself around to some of the best directors working in the business: she make The Mad Whirl (1924) at Universal; William deMille’s The Bedroom Window (1924); Tarnish (1924) for Sam Goldwyn; Tessie (1925); and Ernst Lubitsch’s Three Women (1924) and Lady Windermere’s Fan (1925) at Warner. She was in such great demand that she was among the highest paid actresses of the day, making around $3000 per week.