List of American women in 19th century theater

A

• Emma Abbott - (December 9, 1850 - January 5, 1891) Operatic soprano from Chicago, Illinois. Played at the Royal Opera in London, Covent Garden. Returned to America and founded the Abbott English Opera Company with her husband Eugene Wetherell. Sang in the Abbott English Opera Company as Juliette in Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette (1867).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Abbott

• Bessie Abott (1878-February 9, 1919) Born Bessie Pickens in Heuvelton, New York. American operatic soprano who made her professional debut at Pickens Hall (built by her grandfather, John Pickens Sr.). Performed in Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette as Juliette.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Abott

• Florence Adelaide Fowle Adams (October 15, 1863 - July 31, 1916) Born Florence Adelaide Fowle in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Dramatic reader and teacher at the Boston School of Oratory.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Adelaide_Fowle_Adams

• Maude Adams (November 11, 1872 - July 17, 1953) Born Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden in Salt Lake City, Utah. Greatest success as Peter Pan on Broadway, 1905. Portrayed Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in (1899), Portia in The Merchant of Venice (1931), and Maria in Twelfth Night (1934).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maude_Adams

• Suzanne Adams (November 28, 1872 - February 5, 1953) Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, debuted at the Paris Opera in 1894/1895 in Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette. Appeared at Covent Garden in London as Hero in C.V. Stanford's Much Ado About Nothing (1898).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Adams

• Sara Adler (May 26, 1858 - April 28, 1953) Born Sara Levitskaya in Odessa, Ukraine, Russian Empire.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Adler

• Ullie Akerstrom (March 17, 1864 - August 10, 1941) Born Ulrika Akerstrom in New York City, she was a dancer, actress and playwrite.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ullie_Akerstrom

• Viola Alberti (July 10, 1871 - May 8, 1957) Born Mary Viola Alberti in Lewistown, Pennsylvania.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Alberti

• Viola Allen (October 27, 1867 - May 9, 1948) Born Viola Emily Allen in Huntsville, Alabama, she played leading roles in Shakespeare and other plays. Twelfth Night, A Winter's Tale, As you Like It (1911). Played the roles of Cordelia and Desdemona, among others.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_Allen

• Mary Anderson (July 28, 1859 - May 29, 1940) Born Mary Antoinette Anderson in Sacramento, California. Later became Mary Anderson de Nevarro. Played Lady MacBeth in 1877, Romeo and Juliet (1884), The Winter's Tale double role of Perdita and Hermione (1887)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anderson_(actress,_born_1859)

B

• Emily Bancker (1861/62 - June 5, 1897)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bancker
• Charlotte Mary Sanford Barnes (1818 - April 14, 1863) Born in Massachusettes, Barnes was an American actress and playwrite.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mary_Sanford_Barnes
• Ethel Barrymore (August 15, 1879 - June 18, 1959) Born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Played in the Garrick Theatre in London's West End in 1901. Played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (1922).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Barrymore
• Isabel Bateman (December 28, 1854 - 1934) Born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Played Desdemona in Othello at the Lyceum theatre, London.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Bateman
• Kate Josephine Bateman Crowe (October 7, 1842 - April 8, 1917) Born Kate Josephine Bateman in Baltimore, Maryland. Performed excerpts from Shakespeare's plays around the country with her sister Ellen.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Josephine_Bateman
• Sidney Frances Bateman
• Virginia Frances Bateman
• Blanche Bates
• Nora Bayes
• Louise Beaudet
• Rose Beaudet
• Laura Joyce Bell
• Ann West Bignall
• Amelia Bingham
• Kitty Blanchard
• Lillian Blauvelt
• Clara Bloodgood
• Marjorie Bonner (19th century actress)
• Jessie Bonstelle
• Agnes Booth
• Elizabeth Crocker Bowers
• Belle Boyd
• May Brookyn
• Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter
• Nellie Marie Burns
• Marie Burroughs
• Jessie Busley
• Sarah Hildreth Butler

C

Marie Cahill

Georgia Caine

Beatrice Cameron

Mrs. Leslie Carter

Emma Carus

Louise Carver

Georgia Cayvan

Henrietta Baker Chanfrau

Beatrice Chanler

Caroline Chapman

Edythe Chapman

Charlotte Baldwin

Alfreda Chippendale

Gertrude Claire

Ada Clare

Marguerite Clark

Kate Claxton

Viola Katherine Clemmons

Josephine Clifton

Ella Maria Dietz Clymer

Laura Sedgwick Collins

Nanette Comstock

Ida Conquest

Sarah Crocker Conway

Ethyle Cooke

Mabelle Gilman Corey

Mae Costello

Lotta Crabtree

Marcella Craft

Maida Craigen

Laura Hope Crews

Henrietta Crosman

Charlotte Cushman

Pauline Cushman

Susan Webb Cushman

D

Margaret Dale (actress)

Helen Dauvray

Alice Davenport

Milla Davenport

Phoebe Davies

Fay Davis

Henrietta Vinton Davis

Jessie Bartlett Davis

May de Sousa

Julia Dean (actress, born 1830)

Camille D'elmar

Kate Denin

Susan Denin

Laura Don

Frances Ann Denny Drake

Virginia Dreher

Louise Dresser

Dorothy Drew

Georgiana Drew

Louisa Lane Drew

Helen Dunbar

Minnie Dupree

Maud Durbin

E

Virginia Earle

Elise, Countess of Edla

Eliza Crisp

Eliza Riddle Field

Elizabeth Hamblin

Maxine Elliott

Edith Ellis (playwright)

Effie Ellsler

Agnes Ethel

Lizzie Evans

Pearl Eytinge

Rose Eytinge

F

Maude Fealy

Elsie Ferguson

Bijou Fernandez

Kate Field

Margarita Fischer

Minnie Maddern Fiske

Harriet Ford

Louise Woodworth Foss

Della Fox

Frances Denny Drake

Irene Franklin

Olive Fremstad

Emma Sheridan Fry

G

Minna Gale

Bertha Galland

Grace George

Effie Germon

Sylvia Gerrish

Amelia Holman Gilfert

Lulu Glaser

Katherine Grey (actress)

Louise Gunning

H

Louise Closser Hale

Laura Nelson Hall

Pauline Hall

Virginia Harned

Alice Harrison

Percy Haswell

Ella Hattan

Grace Henderson

Ogarita Booth Henderson

Beatrice Herford

Adrienne McNeil Herndon

Chrystal Herne

Bijou Heron

Matilda Heron

Mabel Hite

Edna Wallace Hopper

Kate Horn

Jean Hosmer

Lotty Hough

Jobyna Howland

Caroline Miskel Hoyt

Hyers Sisters

I

Isabel Irving

J

Ethel Jackson

Fanny Janauschek

Elsie Janis

Marie Jansen

Cornelia Frances Jefferson

Maud Jeffries

Izetta Jewel

Susan Johnstone

Avonia Jones

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones

Pauline Joran

K

Florence Kahn (actress)

Bertha Kalich

Kathleen Kerrigan (actress)

Kathryn Kidder

Jennie Kimball

Sarah Kirby-Stark

Mrs. Edward Knight

L

Lucille La Verne

La Sylphe

Paulina Lavitz

Lillian Lawrence

Louise Le Baron

Sarah Cowell Le Moyne

Jennie Lee (American actress)

Lillian Lee

Mercedes Leigh

Amy Leslie

Elsie Leslie

Annie Lewis

Clara Lipman

Keni Liptzin

Little Tuesday

Eliza Logan

Olive Logan

Marion Lorne

M

Annie Mack

Jessie Mackaye

Marietta Judah

Julia Marlowe

Mary Maurice

Olive May

Kate Mayhew

Margaret Mayo (playwright)

Mollie McConnell

Nancy McIntosh

Margaret McWade

Rose Melville

Adah Isaacs Menken

Ann Brunton Merry

Maggie Mitchell

Helena Modjeska

Virginia Monier

Annabelle Moore

Polly Moran

Jane Morgan (actress)

Giuseppina Morlacchi

Clara Morris

Anna Cora Mowatt

N

Miriam Nesbitt

Alice Nielsen

O

Alice Oates

Maude Odell

Peggy O'Neil

Julie Opp

Elita Proctor Otis

P

Mabel Paige

Minnie Palmer

Charlotte Blair Parker

Jane Peyton

Annie Pixley

Charlotte Wrighten Placide

Jane Placide

Eliza Poe

Madame Ponisi

Lily Post

Kate Price (actress)

Eva Puck

R

Lulah Ragsdale

Jessie Ralph

Phyllis Rankin

Dora Knowlton Ranous

Kate Raymond

Olive Redpath

Ada Rehan

Carrie Reynolds

Fanny Rice

Emily Rigl

Blanche Ring

Annie Robe

Florence Roberts

Florence Roberts (actress)

May Robson

Genevieve Rogers

Rose Sydell

Isadore Rush

Ada Dwyer Russell

Annie Russell

Lillian Russell

S

Josie Sadler

Julia Sanderson

Sibyl Sanderson

Zelda Sears

Evelyn Selbie

Selene Johnson

Effie Shannon

Truly Shattuck

Charlotte Shelby

Sydney Shields

Catherine Norton Sinclair

Beverley Sitgreaves

Rose Stahl

Genevieve Stebbins

Rowena Granice Steele

T

Edith Taliaferro

Fay Templeton

Gertrude Thanhouser

Bessie Thomashefsky

Minnie Tittell Brune

Helen Tracy

Sarah Truax

Carrie Turner (actress)

Florence Turner

Odette Tyler

Elizabeth Tyree

U

Geraldine Ulmar

Isabelle Urquhart

V

Grace Van Studdiford

Marie van Zandt

Vera Freeman

Mary Ann Vincent

Annie Von Behren

W

Marie Wainwright

Charlotte Walker

Aida Overton Walker

Blanche Walsh

Fannie Ward

Helen Ware

Ida Waterman

Stella Weaver

Mary E. Webb

Rebecca Weintraub

Lucille Western

Helen Westley

Sarah Wheatley

Blanche Whiffen

Whitman Sisters

Dora Wiley

Bertha M. Wilson

Jennie Worrell

X

Y

Ellen Beach Yaw

Annie Yeamans

May Yohé

Rida Johnson Young

Z