Olympia Sumner(1878-1950)

Emilie (Aimee) Olympia Rudolphine Martinek was born into a touring circus family in Karlsruhe, Germany. She was the sister of H O Martinek and sister-in-law of Ivy Martinek. All the siblings left the life of performing circus artists around 1908 and Emilie, H O Martinek and his wife Ivy Martinek moved in the world of silent movie actors. Oceano and Emilie had a brother, Leonard, who performed very successfully in the music halls, continuing with his dancing, although it is possible Leonard he also occasionally appeared in the movies. At some point of her circus career it would seem Emilie married, as she had a daughter, Lucia Schulz, born in 1900, but she later met the cinematographer John B McDowell (famous as one of the cinematographer's of the Battle of the Somme) through the company British and Colonial. They had a lifelong relationship, which only ended with her death in Pitsea, Essex, in 1950. John McDowell directed Emilie as Queen Elizabeth in the 1914 film The Loves and Adventures in the Life of Shakespeare, when she appeared under the name Aimee Martinek. It seems Emilie also acted under the name Sophia Sumner in Three-Fingered Kate: The Wedding Presents (1912). She and John McDowell had one daughter, Adrienne. 1912 The Winsome Widow (Short) 1912 The Adventures of Dick Turpin: The Gunpowder Plot (Short) 1912 Three-Fingered Kate: The Wedding Presents (Short) 1914 Loves and Adventures in the Life of Shakespeare Queen Elizabeth (as Aimee Martinek)