Davenport, Fanny Lily Gypsy

Davenport, Fanny Lily Gypsy

▪ American actress
born April 10, 1850, London, Eng.
died Sept. 26, 1898, South Duxbury, Mass., U.S.
 American actress who saw considerable success, especially with her own company, on the 19th-century American stage.

      Davenport was the daughter of Edward L. Davenport (Davenport, Edward Loomis), an American actor. She grew up in Boston from 1854 and took naturally to the theatre from an early age. She essayed her first speaking part at the age of six and took a substantial role in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady, produced by her father and J.W. Wallack, Jr., in 1862. At age 15 she played her first adult role. She then joined a stock company in Louisville, Kentucky, and shortly afterward joined the company of Louisa Lane Drew (Drew, Louisa Lane)'s Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia. In 1869 she moved to Augustin Daly (Daly, (John) Augustin)'s Fifth Avenue Theatre company in New York City. She gained much experience under Daly and enjoyed considerable success in a wide variety of roles, particularly in W.S. Gilbert (Gilbert, Sir W.S.)'s Charity in 1874 and Daly's own Pique in 1876.

      In 1877 Davenport bought the rights to Pique from Daly and formed her own touring company with herself as starring attraction. She gradually expanded the repertory of her company and had several increasingly successful seasons. One of her touring hits was Anna E. Dickinson (Dickinson, Anna Elizabeth)'s An American Girl in 1880. While in England in 1882, she purchased American rights to Victorien Sardou (Sardou, Victorien)'s Fédora, which was at the time a great hit for Sarah Bernhardt (Bernhardt, Sarah) in Paris. From its New York premiere in 1883 through tours lasting until 1887, Fédora was an equally great and lucrative success for Davenport in the United States. Several Sardou productions followed: La Tosca in 1888, Cleopatra in 1890, and Gismonda in 1894. Her last undertaking, a lavish production of F.A. Mathews's A Soldier of France in 1897, was an expensive failure. After a final stage appearance at Chicago's Grand Opera House in March 1898, Davenport retired to her vacation home in South Duxbury.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Bingham, Amelia — ▪ American actress née  Amelia Swilley  born March 20, 1869, Hicksville, Ohio, U.S. died September 1, 1927, New York, New York       American actress who not only achieved great popularity as a performer but also became perhaps the country s… …   Universalium

  • Dickinson, Anna Elizabeth — ▪ American lecturer born October 28, 1842, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. died October 22, 1932, Goshen, New York  American lecturer on abolitionism, women s rights, and other reform topics, remembered for the articulate but emotionally… …   Universalium

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

  • List of cemeteries — This list of cemeteries compiles notable cemeteries, mausoleums and other places people are buried, worldwide. Reasons for notability include their design, their history and their interments.Argentina*La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires burial… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”