Mary Anderson (actress, born 1859)
Mary Anderson (later Mary Anderson de Navarro; July 28, 1859 – May 29, 1940) was an American theatre actress.
Early life
Anderson was born in
Anderson was educated at the Ursuline convent and the all-girl Presentation Academy in Louisville. She was an unenthusiastic pupil except for an interest in reading and acting Shakespeare. She also took private lessons in music, dancing and literature. Encouraged by her stepfather, Dr Hamilton Griffin, at 14 she was sent to New York for ten lessons with the actor George Vandenhoff, her only professional training.[2]
Stage career
In 1875, she made her first stage appearance at a benefit performance at Macauley's Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, in the role of Shakespeare's Juliet[3] The manager, Barney Macauley, was sufficiently impressed to extend the booking to a week as Juliet and further roles including Julia in Sheridan Knowles's The Hunchback, Bianca in Henry Hart Milman's Fazio, and R. L. Sheil's Evadne.[citation needed]
Further engagements at
In 1883, after starring in an American production of
In 1887 in London she appeared in The Winter's Tale in the double role of Perdita and Hermione (the first actress to include this innovation).[1] This production ran to 160 performances, and was taken back to the United States. She invited writer William Black to appear in the production, but, even in a non-speaking role, he froze up and interrupted the performance.[5] In 1889, however, she collapsed on stage due to severe nervous exhaustion during a performance at Albaugh's Theatre in Washington.[3] Disbanding her company, she announced her retirement at the age of 30. Some commentators, particularly in the British press, ascribed this turn of events to hostile press reviews on her return to the U.S.[6] The author Willa Cather went further and blamed a specifically hurtful review from a close friend.[7]
For part of her career, Napier Lothian Jr. served as Anderson's talent manager.[8]
Performances
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As Parthenia inFriedrich Halm's Ingomar the Barbarian, 1883
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As Perdita in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, 1887
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As Hermione in Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, 1887
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As Galatea in W. S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea, 1883
Later life
Ordered to rest after her breakdown, Mary Anderson visited England. In 1890 she married Antonio Fernando de Navarro.[9][10] She became known as Mary Anderson de Navarro. They settled at Court Farm[11] in the Cotswolds, Broadway, Worcestershire, where she cultivated an interest in music and became a noted hostess with a distinguished circle of musical, literary and ecclesiastical guests. She also gave birth to three children, one son who died at birth, another son, Alma Jose "Toty" Maria de Navarro and a daughter, Mary Elena de Navarro.[12][13][14][15]
A devout Roman Catholic, she had a chapel built in her attic, with stained-glass windows designed by
She resisted encouragements to return to the theatre, but did a number of fund-raising performances during
Death
She died at her home in Broadway, Worcestershire, in 1940, aged 80.[21] She was survived by her son and daughter.
Filmography
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1912 | Bridge | Mrs. Gray | Short |
The Days of Terror; or, in the Reign of Terror | — | ||
Babette | Babette | ||
The Night Before Christmas | Aunt Ruth - Mrs. Corbin's Sister (as Miss Navarro) | ||
Days of Terror | — | ||
1913 | Cinderella's Slipper | — | |
1914 | Hearts of Oak | Aunt Becky | |
When Broadway Was a Trail | Mistress Hibbins | ||
1915 | The Battle of Ballots | — | |
1916 | Diana the Huntress | Unknown (as Mary Navarra) | Short |
1918 | Mrs. Dane's Defense | Mrs. Dane of Canada | |
Eve's Daughter | Kate Simpson-Bates | Final film role |
Legacy
The Mary Anderson Theatre was the oldest theatre on Louisville's 4th Street. It opened in 1907 as a vaudeville house, but two years later began to screen movies. The theatre closed in 1972 and was converted into office space.[citation needed]
Land donated by Anderson in
The house and farm that Mary and Antonio Navarro purchased and extended in the town of Broadway, Court Farm, is recognised as hosting one of the best preserved Edwardian gardens.[11][23] It was left to her son, Toty de Navarro, who lived there with his wife, Dorothy, their son Michael and Dorothy's long-time Cambridge friend, Gertrude Caton Thompson. As in the years when Mary lived there, it was often filled with visiting artists and musicians, including Myra Hess and a young Jacqueline du Pré.[24]
References and sources
References
- ^ a b "Mary Anderson", National Museum of American History
- ^ Logan, Mrs. John A., The Part Taken by Women in American History, The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912
- ^ a b c "Mary Anderson", Women's Work in Louisville, KY, University of Louisville
- ^ "Music and the Drama". The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts. 1 (17): 270. March 27, 1884. Retrieved April 30, 2013.
- ^ Thomas Wemyss Reid. William Black, Novelist. London and New York: Harper and Brothers, 1902, p. 283.
- ^ "Return of Mary Anderson". The New York Times. October 7, 1911. p. 12. Retrieved April 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ The Kingdom of Art: Willa Cather's First Principles and Critical Statements, ed. Bernice Slote, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Internet Archive
- ^ "NAPIER LOTHIAN, JR., DEAD.; Veteran Theatrical Manager Expires Suddenly of Appoplexy in Boston". The New York Times.
- Chambers's Encyclopædia. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 409.
- ^ "Antonio Fernando de Navarro; Mary Anderson (Mrs de Navarro), half-plate glass negative (1890) – NPG x42729". National Portrait Gallery, London. September 4, 1928. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ a b "Amazing Secret Gardens of Broadway | Free at Last". Retrieved October 31, 2016.
- ISBN 9780813159010. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
- ^ "Mary Anderson Has Another Play Idea; Former Actress..." The New York Times. October 25, 1911. p. 13. Retrieved April 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mary Anderson To Modjeska: Sends Her Good Wishes for Polish Actress's Farewell Tour". The New York Times. October 8, 1905. p. 7. Retrieved April 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Antonio Fernando de Navarro" (PDF). www.pewterbank.com. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
- ^ Mr Benson remembered in Rye, and the world of Tilling, Cynthia & Tony Reavell, 1984
- ^ The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Contributor Adolf Carl von Noé, v.47 1953, University of Chicago Press
- ^ "Anderson, Mary", Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- ^ a b Dictionary of American Biography, The American Council of Learned Societies, Sribner, 1959
- ^ Obituary, Mme. de Navarro, The Times, May 30, 1940
- ^ "Obituary: Mme. de Navarro". The Guardian. May 30, 1940. p. 10. Retrieved April 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "INDOT: Memorial Highways and Bridges". INDOT. Archived from the original on December 15, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
- ^ Willsdon, Clare A. P. (2012). "COUNTRY GARDENS: John Singer Sargent RA, Alfred Parsons RA, and their Contemporaries Broadway Arts Festival 2012" (PDF). broadwayartsfestival.com. Broadway Arts Festival. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
- ISBN 0950610429.
Sources
- Donald Roy, "Anderson, Mary (1859–1940)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- Winter Stage Life of Mary Anderson (1886)
External links
- Mary Navarro (1859–1940) at IMDb
- Mary Anderson by J. M. Farrar (1885), a Project Gutenberg etext
- "Florence Earle Coates"on seeing Miss Anderson in the role"
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Letters from Mary Anderson, 1910–1940, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Heroines of the Modern Stage p. 230 by Forrest Izard c.1915