American actress. She was born near Mt. Pleasant, IA, probably at Oakland Mills where her prosperous grandparents had a large farm and grain mill on the Skunk River. With her parents, Marcellus Armstrong (1846-1922) and Lou(isa) Short (1847-1938), prosperous farmers, she moved to Albany, OR between 1895 and 1900. Maidena was an "only child". "Maidie Armstrong" was a telephone operator in 1905 in Albany, OR and by 1910 (Census) she was living in Corvallis, OR with her parents as "Maidre Coupisch", divorced.
By 1920, she was living on her own as a "millinery trimmer" in Portland, OR (divorced). Her father died in Oregon in 1922 and sometime later she moved to Los Angeles and was acting with the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse Players by 1927 to good reviews in small parts. Living with her Mom in LA in their fully paid for $10,000 home in 1930 (Census), her profession was a "chamber" maid? in a hotel (divorced, age 48).
On 25 November 1935 at her home in the Sawtelle Neighborhood of LA, she "ran hose from gas jet to mouth" and died of "asphyxiation". I think her incorrect birth information [27 Feb 1883; published elsewhere] comes from her Death Certificate. The informant was a woman (I don't know who) at the same address, not Maidena's mom who died 3 years later at the age of 91.
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