Annie Russell
Encyclopedia
Annie Ellen Russell was an English born American
stage actress.
, England
, of Irish
parents, Joseph Russell and Jane Mount. She moved to Canada when she was a child. She made her first appearance on the stage at eight years old at the Montreal Academy of Music in Montreal, Canada. She moved to the West Indies for a brief period when she was twelve. In her adult career, Russell performed mostly in New York City
, earning the lead role in many productions, such as Esmeralda, Bret Harte
's Sue, and Major Barbara. She also performed in California
and in England, and was active in stage productions, despite periodic illnesses, until her death in 1936.
In 1881, in New York
, she performed in Esmerelda, a play written by Frances Hodgson Burnett
and William Gillette
—this play would later become one of her most successful and popular performances. Notwithstanding, reviews for the play, and for Russell's performance, were becoming unfavourable by the ninth month of the play's run—the reviewer says of her performance: "If she cares for her future, she will not waste time in spoiling her voice. ...Lacking knowledge and training, she screams in a most unhappy fashion." It ran for a year at the Madison Square Theatre and had over two hundred showings.
After Esmerelda, Russell did not perform on a similar scale for a few years. However, she was not completely removed from theatrical life. In 1883 she joined the New York Fifth Avenue Theatre company, with her mother, Jane, and little brother, Tommy. She performed in the play Hazel Kirke
, acting as the title role. She left this role several months later create a new theatre company with her new husband in 1884.
Nothing materialized with this new company, as Russell fell ill shortly after—the first reported illness of many throughout her career. She returned in 1885, playing Zaire in the play Broken Hearts
written by W.S. Gilbert. Later in the year, she performed in Young Mrs. Winthrop with the Palmer Company in Philadelphia. She later returned to New York with the same company to perform at Madison Square Theatre as Ada in Sealed Intentions. which received a stellar review on opening night. She performed in Engaged as Maggie McFarland starting in 1886, where acclaim for her performances began to mount. A reviewer in the New York Times said she "Imparts the charm that belongs to her delicate beauty." Other performances in 1886 that Russell performed in with Mr. Palmer's company at Madison Square Theatre include Young Mrs. Winthrop as Edith Our Society and Love's Martyr.
In 1887, Annie Russell earned the title role in the play Elaine by George Parsons Lathrop
and Harry Edwards
, a play later adopted by Mr. Palmer's company. Also in 1887, she earned the role of Sylvia in an adaptation of L'Monde ou l'on ennuie originally by Édouard Pailleron
.
After a brief illness, Russell returned to the Madison Square Theatre company on a tour to San Francisco in 1888 in Partners. She continued to appear in more plays afterward including Captain Swift in 1889, This was her last role before an extended illness in 1890.
Russell remained with Mr. Palmer's company at the Madison Square Theatre until 1894, upon joining Charles Frohman
's company, Empire Stock. She returned to the stage in 1894, playing the lead female part in The New Woman. She reprised her role in Esmerelda in 1894 as well. By 1895, Annie Russell appeared in an increasing number of plays. She performed in a new one-act play called Lethe, Later that year, she appeared in a prelude to Romeo and Juliet called Romeo's First Love and in The Gilded Fool which earned Russell more critical acclaim. Towards the end of the year, she took a new role in Senator and Ingenue as Ruth.
After an extended stay in Europe, Russell returned to the stage in Bret Harte
's play Sue. She later reprised this role in London in 1898 at the Garrick Theatre. In the interim, she appeared in The Mysterious Mr. Bugle as Betty Fondacre, A Bachelor's Romance, Salt of the Earth, and Dangerfield '95 She performed many of her popular plays in London, including Sue and The Mysterious Mr. Bugle. She fell ill partway through 1899 and in June of that year returned to the United States to rest. She did, however, appear in a few plays, in 1899, Miss Hobbs with Ann Gilbert
and 1900 in A Royal Family.
In 1902, Russell appeared in other plays with Ann Gilbert
, in The Girl and the Judge. The play had great success, and ran from December 1901 to the fall of 1902. Subsequently, Russell starred in Mice and Men, still with Frohman's
company. On December 30, 1902, Mrs. Roosevelt
and other Washington dignitaries saw Russell perform in this play.
In 1903, Annie Russell performed in Boston, playing the title role in The Younger Mrs. Parling. She met her second husband, Oswald Yorke, in this play. Shortly after her marriage, Russell starred in a new play Brother Jacques.
Annie Russell returned to London in 1905. Her first play upon her return was the role Barbara Undershaft in Bernard Shaw's
Major Barbara
in that same year. She later returned to the United States, appearing in Friend Hannah in 1906. In the same year, she performed in Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly built Astor Theatre in Boston.
In 1908 she appeared with Robert Drouet
in The Stronger Sex. Wagenhals & Kemper, owners of a company that Russell was a part of, bought land to build a $300,000 theatre bearing her name in New York City. It was described to be "state-of-the-art" In 1910 she joined the New Theatre Company
, New York, appearing in Twelfth Night (1910), The Nigger (1909) She performed Twelfth Night in Washington for President Taft and the first Lady, Helen Taft. She appeared in a number of small plays, one under Charles Frohman's management, Gordon's Wife under Leibler Company until 1912 when she organized the Old English Comedy Company. They occupied The Princess Theatre in New York, a small theatre of 299 seats. A special feature of her new theatre company was that special matinées for schoolchildren on Fridays and Saturdays were performed, in addition to performances for private schools.
) on 27 March 1904, and divorced him in 1929. She had no children from either marriage.
Russell suffered from periodic illnesses throughout her life, contributing to large gaps in her career. In late December, 1890, many of her professional friends arranged a testimonial to be performed in February 1891. A M Palmer, her company manager, offered free use of his theatre to stage the event. Three prominent theatre companies of the time volunteered to participate: the Madison Square Theatre Company, Daniel Frohman
's Lyceum Theatre
Company, and Charles Frohman
's Twenty-Third Street Theatre Company. The testimonial was performed February 10, 1891 and earned $3,000 to offset medical and other costs.
She also gave several speeches to drama students, the first speech to the graduates of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
in March 1902.
was founded at the college. She opened the theatre in 1932 with a performance of In a Balcony.
She taught at Rollins College until her death on January 16, 1936. She was seventy-two years old. She was buried in St. Stephen's Cemetery in Millburn, New Jersey
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stage actress.
Early life
Russell was born on in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
parents, Joseph Russell and Jane Mount. She moved to Canada when she was a child. She made her first appearance on the stage at eight years old at the Montreal Academy of Music in Montreal, Canada. She moved to the West Indies for a brief period when she was twelve. In her adult career, Russell performed mostly in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, earning the lead role in many productions, such as Esmeralda, Bret Harte
Bret Harte
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
's Sue, and Major Barbara. She also performed in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and in England, and was active in stage productions, despite periodic illnesses, until her death in 1936.
Career
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, she performed in Esmerelda, a play written by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett was an English playwright and author. She is best known for her children's stories, in particular The Secret Garden , A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy.Born Frances Eliza Hodgson, she lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester...
and William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
—this play would later become one of her most successful and popular performances. Notwithstanding, reviews for the play, and for Russell's performance, were becoming unfavourable by the ninth month of the play's run—the reviewer says of her performance: "If she cares for her future, she will not waste time in spoiling her voice. ...Lacking knowledge and training, she screams in a most unhappy fashion." It ran for a year at the Madison Square Theatre and had over two hundred showings.
After Esmerelda, Russell did not perform on a similar scale for a few years. However, she was not completely removed from theatrical life. In 1883 she joined the New York Fifth Avenue Theatre company, with her mother, Jane, and little brother, Tommy. She performed in the play Hazel Kirke
Hazel Kirke
Hazel Kirke is a play in four acts written by American actor and dramatist Steele MacKaye. The play was written between 1878 and 1879 in the town of Dublin, New Hampshire. MacKaye meant it to be expressly for New York City's Madison Square Theatre, which MacKaye had recently renovated and...
, acting as the title role. She left this role several months later create a new theatre company with her new husband in 1884.
Nothing materialized with this new company, as Russell fell ill shortly after—the first reported illness of many throughout her career. She returned in 1885, playing Zaire in the play Broken Hearts
Broken Hearts
Broken Hearts is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts styled "An entirely original fairy play". It opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 9 December 1875, running for three months, and toured the provinces in 1876...
written by W.S. Gilbert. Later in the year, she performed in Young Mrs. Winthrop with the Palmer Company in Philadelphia. She later returned to New York with the same company to perform at Madison Square Theatre as Ada in Sealed Intentions. which received a stellar review on opening night. She performed in Engaged as Maggie McFarland starting in 1886, where acclaim for her performances began to mount. A reviewer in the New York Times said she "Imparts the charm that belongs to her delicate beauty." Other performances in 1886 that Russell performed in with Mr. Palmer's company at Madison Square Theatre include Young Mrs. Winthrop as Edith Our Society and Love's Martyr.
In 1887, Annie Russell earned the title role in the play Elaine by George Parsons Lathrop
George Parsons Lathrop
George Parsons Lathrop was an American poet and novelist.-Life:George Parsons Lathrop was born August 25, 1851 in Honolulu, Hawaii....
and Harry Edwards
Henry Edwards (entomologist)
Henry Edwards , known as "Harry", was an English-born stage actor, writer and entomologist who gained fame in Australia, San Francisco and New York City for his theater work....
, a play later adopted by Mr. Palmer's company. Also in 1887, she earned the role of Sylvia in an adaptation of L'Monde ou l'on ennuie originally by Édouard Pailleron
Édouard Pailleron
Édouard Jules Henri Pailleron was a French poet and dramatist.-Biography:Born in Paris, he was educated for the bar, but after pleading a single case he entered the first dragoon regiment and served for two years. With the artist J.A...
.
After a brief illness, Russell returned to the Madison Square Theatre company on a tour to San Francisco in 1888 in Partners. She continued to appear in more plays afterward including Captain Swift in 1889, This was her last role before an extended illness in 1890.
Russell remained with Mr. Palmer's company at the Madison Square Theatre until 1894, upon joining Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
's company, Empire Stock. She returned to the stage in 1894, playing the lead female part in The New Woman. She reprised her role in Esmerelda in 1894 as well. By 1895, Annie Russell appeared in an increasing number of plays. She performed in a new one-act play called Lethe, Later that year, she appeared in a prelude to Romeo and Juliet called Romeo's First Love and in The Gilded Fool which earned Russell more critical acclaim. Towards the end of the year, she took a new role in Senator and Ingenue as Ruth.
After an extended stay in Europe, Russell returned to the stage in Bret Harte
Bret Harte
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
's play Sue. She later reprised this role in London in 1898 at the Garrick Theatre. In the interim, she appeared in The Mysterious Mr. Bugle as Betty Fondacre, A Bachelor's Romance, Salt of the Earth, and Dangerfield '95 She performed many of her popular plays in London, including Sue and The Mysterious Mr. Bugle. She fell ill partway through 1899 and in June of that year returned to the United States to rest. She did, however, appear in a few plays, in 1899, Miss Hobbs with Ann Gilbert
Ann Gilbert
Ann Gilbert billed as Mrs. G. H. Gilbert was a British – American actress.She was born Anne Jane Hartley at Rochdale, Lancashire, England. At fifteen she was a pupil at the ballet school connected with Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, conducted by Paul Taglioni, and became a dancer...
and 1900 in A Royal Family.
In 1902, Russell appeared in other plays with Ann Gilbert
Ann Gilbert
Ann Gilbert billed as Mrs. G. H. Gilbert was a British – American actress.She was born Anne Jane Hartley at Rochdale, Lancashire, England. At fifteen she was a pupil at the ballet school connected with Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, conducted by Paul Taglioni, and became a dancer...
, in The Girl and the Judge. The play had great success, and ran from December 1901 to the fall of 1902. Subsequently, Russell starred in Mice and Men, still with Frohman's
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
company. On December 30, 1902, Mrs. Roosevelt
Edith Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1909.-Early life:...
and other Washington dignitaries saw Russell perform in this play.
In 1903, Annie Russell performed in Boston, playing the title role in The Younger Mrs. Parling. She met her second husband, Oswald Yorke, in this play. Shortly after her marriage, Russell starred in a new play Brother Jacques.
Annie Russell returned to London in 1905. Her first play upon her return was the role Barbara Undershaft in Bernard Shaw's
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
Major Barbara
Major Barbara (play)
Major Barbara is a three act play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907.-Setting:*London*Act I: Lady Britomart's house in Wilton Crescent*Act II: The Salvation Army shelter in West Ham...
in that same year. She later returned to the United States, appearing in Friend Hannah in 1906. In the same year, she performed in Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly built Astor Theatre in Boston.
In 1908 she appeared with Robert Drouet
Robert Drouet
Robert Drouet was an American actor and playwright.Robert Drouet , was born in Clinton, Iowa. He married Mildred Loring, daughter of M. A. Loring, October 1897, and died in New York City from heart disease.Drouet joined a theatrical company at 16 and later took out his own Shakespearean repertoire...
in The Stronger Sex. Wagenhals & Kemper, owners of a company that Russell was a part of, bought land to build a $300,000 theatre bearing her name in New York City. It was described to be "state-of-the-art" In 1910 she joined the New Theatre Company
Century Theatre
The Century Theatre, originally the New Theatre, was a theater located at 62nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful...
, New York, appearing in Twelfth Night (1910), The Nigger (1909) She performed Twelfth Night in Washington for President Taft and the first Lady, Helen Taft. She appeared in a number of small plays, one under Charles Frohman's management, Gordon's Wife under Leibler Company until 1912 when she organized the Old English Comedy Company. They occupied The Princess Theatre in New York, a small theatre of 299 seats. A special feature of her new theatre company was that special matinées for schoolchildren on Fridays and Saturdays were performed, in addition to performances for private schools.
Personal life
She married playwright and stage manager Eugene Wiley Presbrey on 6 November 1884, and divorced him in 1897. She married English actor Oswald Harker (stage name Oswald YorkeOswald Yorke
Oswald Yorke was an English film and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born Oswald Parkinson Harker in London, England...
) on 27 March 1904, and divorced him in 1929. She had no children from either marriage.
Russell suffered from periodic illnesses throughout her life, contributing to large gaps in her career. In late December, 1890, many of her professional friends arranged a testimonial to be performed in February 1891. A M Palmer, her company manager, offered free use of his theatre to stage the event. Three prominent theatre companies of the time volunteered to participate: the Madison Square Theatre Company, Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman
Daniel Frohman was a Jewish American theatrical producer and manager, and an early film producer.Frohman was born in Sandusky, Ohio...
's Lyceum Theatre
Lyceum Theatre (New York, 1885-1902)
The Lyceum Theatre operated on Manhattan’s Fourth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets, from 1885 to 1902, when it was torn down to make way for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower and replaced by the Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street...
Company, and Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
's Twenty-Third Street Theatre Company. The testimonial was performed February 10, 1891 and earned $3,000 to offset medical and other costs.
She also gave several speeches to drama students, the first speech to the graduates of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
in March 1902.
Later years and death
Russell officially retired from the stage in 1918 and moved to Winter Park, in Florida. She was encouraged by a friend to teach at Rollins College, and in 1931, the Annie Russell TheatreAnnie Russell Theatre
The Annie Russell Theatre is a historic theater in Winter Park, Florida, United States. The theatre was named after the English-born actress Annie Russell in 1931, and designed by the German-born architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott. It is located on the premises of Rollins College. On...
was founded at the college. She opened the theatre in 1932 with a performance of In a Balcony.
She taught at Rollins College until her death on January 16, 1936. She was seventy-two years old. She was buried in St. Stephen's Cemetery in Millburn, New Jersey
Millburn, New Jersey
Millburn is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 20,149.Millburn Township was created as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 20, 1857, from portions of Springfield Township.Millburn also...
.
External links
- Portrait Photos @ NYPL Digital GalleryNYPL Digital GalleryThe NYPL Digital Gallery is a digital archive created by the New York Public Library that provides free access to a large collection of over 500,000 digitized images, the majority of which are in the public domain...