LEST WE FORGET MARY ANDERSON
(July 28, 1859 - May 29, 1940)

After her father was killed during the Civil War while fighting at Mobile, her mother married Dr. Hamilton Griffin who had an established practice in Louisville. A passionate lover of the arts, Dr. Griffin encouraged and supported her aspirations toward theatre and served as her personal adviser and business manager.  She was fourteen when she observed Edwin Booth as Richlieu. 

In her autobiography A Few Memories she remarked that this was a turning point in her life:  "I felt for the first time that acting was not merely a delightful amusement, but a serious art that might be used for high ends."

She began intensive training at her home believing the voice to be of most importance. She studied James E. Murdoch's Analytic Elocution and James Rush's The Philosophy of the Voice.  After several months, her voice had become much fuller and stronger.  Extremely tall and awkward for her age, she decided to acquire grace of pose and movement. She turned to the Delsarte system of expression to help her with the nonverbal aspects of emotion.  Because of her admiration for Mr. Booth, she patterned much of her work after him, inclining toward the intellectual school of acting.

Her progress was rapid and she was able to audition for the  leading actor of the Louisville Theatre, who was so impressed he arranged an interview for her with Charlotte Cushman.  Cushman advised her to take more voice coaching with actor George Vandenhoff in New York.  

In Louisville she debuted at the age of 16 as Juliet at
Macauley's Theatre. Her repertoire included Bianca in Fazio,
Julia in The Hunchback, Evadne in Evadne and Pauline in The Lady of Lyons.

In 1876 John McCullough invited her to appear at his theatre in San Francisco which she described as the "most unhappy part of my professional life." The company considered her an interloper and the fashionable actresses laughed at her clothes.  She was about to end her theatrical aspirations when Edwin Booth persuaded her to continue.   A year later she opened in New York at the Fifth Avenue Theatre as Pauline.

Although a popular success, she did not succeed in the eyes of the critics during her first New York engagement.  However she received invaluable advice from the playwright and actor Dion Boucicault, critic William Winter, actress Clara Morris, Lawrence Barrett, and Joseph Jefferson.  

Mary Anderson made her London debut as Parthenia in Ingomar at the Lyceum Theatre in 1883.  A year later she introduced her production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lyceum which ran for over one hundred performances.  Following the close of the season she teamed with
Johnston Forbes-Robertson and toured the provinces for four years.

In time her attempt to modify her declamatory style and subordinate herself to the ideal of the ensemble was viewed favorably by the critics.

Her last professional appearance on stage occurred in  1889 after the strain of a tour caused a physical and emotional breakdown during a performance.
During World War 1, in an effort to contribute to the Allied cause, she acted and spoke in many camps and theatres, often accompanied by the popular Shakespearean actor
E. H. Sothern.  

For the most part, she adhered closely to the classical approach to acting. Contemporary descriptions of the great English actress Sarah Siddons's style--"studied," "proper,"  "dignified"-could be applied to her acting as well.

Her beauty was uncontested. Her features were extremely mobile and were often used to express the thoughts and emotions of the characters she portrayed.  Her deep contralto voice impressed the critics.
But more importantly, her personal moral code engendered much respect for her and helped to improve the status of the woman performer.  From 1884 to 1889 she reigned as America's foremost Shakespearean performer.

Resource:  Notable Women in the American Theatre. 1989    Raymond Sawyer
Mary Anderson de Navarro.  A Few Memories (1896)