Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born America-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25.

Robson was the earliest-born person, and the first Australian to be nominated for an Academy Award (for her leading role in Lady for a Day in 1933).

[9] She was the fourth child of Julia, née Schlesinger (or Schelesinger) and Henry Robison;[3][10] her siblings were Williams, James and Adelaide.

[9][11] He retired at half-pay due to his poor health[9] and travelled with Julia Robison to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1853 on the SS Great Britain.

[7][c] On 19 November 1862, Julia married Walter Moore Miller, solicitor and mayor of Albury, New South Wales, at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

[8][d] Robson attended Sacred Heart Convent School at Highgate in north London[10][9] and studied languages in Brussels.

According to Jan Jones, "the Gores survived two years in their prairie manor house before homesickness, rural isolation, and repeated bouts of fever convinced them to sell and try their fortunes in the more settled East.

[10][9] By the time she began her acting career in 1883, two of her three children had died from illnesses,[22][g] leaving only Edward Hyde Leveson Gore.

Respected and firmly established in the theatre Robson's fame and recognition allowed her to appear in films uncredited.

In 1927, she went to Hollywood, where she began a successful film career as a senior woman often in comedic roles and nearly rivaling her long time friend Marie Dressler.

[35][36] She also starred in the final segment of the anthology film If I Had a Million (1932) as a rest-home resident who gets a new lease on life when she receives a $1,000,000 check from a dying business tycoon.