America’s First Supermodel, Who Died In A Mental Asylum
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To refer to Audrey Munson simply as a supermodel would be dismissive, as the iconic Gilded Age star was a renowned artist’s model, clothing model, and film actress whose fascinating tale stands out among a crowded field of similarly interesting stories.
She was, in fact, the model for some the most iconic sculptures in New York City, including the massive, 25-foot-tall statue perched atop Lower Manhattan’s Municipal Building: Civic Fame.
Born in Rochester, New York in 1891, Munson moved to New York City when she was still a teenager. She was first discovered when a photographer spotted the young beauty in a Fifth Avenue store window.
This led to Munson’s initial collaborative work with various photographers and sculptors, who were drawn to her tall, photogenic frame and “neoclassical” features. This fame also led to her being cast in silent films of the era.
Despite her fame, Munson received little compensation and was not able to save up enough to support herself after her star had faded. By the 1920s, as her popularity decreased, she and her mother moved to upstate New York.
With no savings to speak of, Munson took work as a waitress. It was during this time that she began to demonstrate signs of mental illness, such as her insistence on being known as “Baroness Audrey Meri Munson-Munson.”
She blamed her downfall on Jewish people, and her outspoken anti-Semitism led her so far as to contact the U.S. House of Representatives, insisting that they create a law that would protect her from “the Hebrews.”
At the age of 40, Munson was sent even further upstate to Ogdensburg, along the Canadian border. There, she would reside at St. Lawrence State Hospital, where she would live for many years.
Toward the tail end of her life, the hospital threw Audrey out to make room for incoming patients and moved her to a nearby nursing home. Audrey Munson eventually ended up back in the rooms at St. Lawrence, where she died at the age of 104. Her story inspired the biographical book The Curse of Beauty: The Scandalous & Tragic Life of Audrey Munson, America’s First Supermodel.
