composite characters, each mirroring some aspects of various faded silent stars, but neither of them primarily a disguised portrait of anyone in particular. Lina Lamont bears little resemblance to Talmadge's personality either on or off the screen, and, unlike the delusional Desmond, Talmadge was not stuck in the past and had left her stardom behind her with considerable relief. Talmadge is referenced by name in Woody Allen's film Sweet and Lowdown (1999), in which the Hattie character, played by Samantha Morton, is cast in a silent film as her younger sister, and described by one character as, "...a dead ringer for May Talmadge." In the 1960 film adaptation of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, young Sonny Flood, the son of Robert Preston's character Rubin Flood, collects pictures of motion picture stars. When he asks his aunt and uncle if they would like to see them, his uncle asks, "Have you got any of Norma Talmadge?" Aunt Lottie (played by Eve Arden) goes on a rant about Talmadge being a Catholic. She says, "Norma Talmadge! Norma Talmadge! That's all I hear, is 'Norma Talmadge'! Maybe you'd like to marry Norma Talmadge some day, and let the Pope tell you what to do with the rest of your life." She "gets even" with Morris, though, when she comments, seeing a picture of Rudolph Valentino, "I think it's a sin for a man to be as pretty as he is. I'd be scared stiff to let a man like him touch me." Filmography References Sources Further reading External links New York Times: "An Independent Woman, Nobly Suffering in Silents" Norma Talmadge Website Photographs and bibliography 1894 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New York (state) Film producers from New York (state) American silent film actresses Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery Erasmus Hall High School alumni Deaths from pneumonia in Nevada People from Brooklyn American child actresses Actresses from Jersey City, New Jersey American women film producers Film producers from New Jersey Women film pioneers