Biography

Born in Whitby, Ontario, May Irwin started her performing career at a young age, when she began a singing act with her younger sister Flora in 1874. The act was popular, and Irwin began working as an actress when she was 21 years old. She found success and was appearing in a Broadway show called "The Widow Jones" when Thomas A. Edison saw her and co-star John C. Rice exchanging a kiss on-stage. He hired them to do the same in one of his films, The Kiss (1896). This marked the first kiss in cinematic history. After participating in this milestone moment in film history, Irwin continued to be a popular performer and appeared in one more film, the silent feature Mrs. Black Is Back (1914).
- IMDb mini biography by: Azure_Girl

Performed the first onscreen kiss in movie history with John C. Rice in The Kiss (1896).

Broadway actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Of Scottish descent.

Kurt Eisenfeldt was her manager and press agent. She had two sons with first husband Frederick Keller. Walter (born c.1879) and Harry (born 1882). They are often mistaken to be her sons with Kurt Eisenfeldt. Eisenfeldt, born 1873, would've been only six years older than Walter and eleven years younger than May.