Eleanor Robson Belmont
| Eleanor Robson Belmont | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | December 13, 1879 Wigan, England |
| Died | October 24, 1979 (aged 99) Manhattan, New York, USA |
| Resting place | Island Cemetery Newport, Rhode Island, USA |
| Occupation | Stage actress |
| Spouse | August Belmont, Jr. (m. 1910–1924) |
| Parents | Madge Carr Cook |
Eleanor Robson Belmont (December 13, 1879 – October 24, 1979) was an English actress and prominent public figure in the United States.[1] George Bernard Shaw wrote Major Barbara for her, but contractual problems prevented her from playing the role. Mrs. Belmont was involved in the Metropolitan Opera Association as the first woman on the Board of Directors, and she founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild.
[edit] Biography
She was born on December 13, 1879 in Wigan, Lancashire to Madge Carr Cook and Charles Robson, and moved to the United States as a young girl. Her stage career began at age 17 in San Francisco and she worked in stock companies from Honolulu to Milwaukee before making her New York debut in 1900 as Bonita, the ranchman's daughter in Augustus Thomas's Arizona.[2] Her ten-year career as a leading Broadway actress included top roles in such plays as Robert Browning's In a Balcony (1900), Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1903) opposite Kyrle Bellew, Israel Zangwill's Merely Mary Ann (1903–04 and 1907), Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1905), Zangwill's Nurse Marjorie (1906), and Paul Armstrong's adaptation of Bret Harte's Salomy Jane (1907).[3] She retired when she wed August Belmont, Jr. on February 26, 1910.[4] He died on December 10, 1924.
Mrs. August Belmont, as she thereafter was known, joined the Metropolitan Opera's Board of Directors in 1933, founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild in 1935 and the National Council of the Metropolitan Opera in 1952. These organizations helped shape the multi-source public-private funding model used by U.S. performing arts organizations in the ensuing decades[5]
Mrs. Belmont died in her sleep in Manhattan on October 24, 1979.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Carmody, Deirdre (October 25, 1979). "Eleanor R. Belmont Dies at 100. Leader in Charities and the Arts". New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F12FE3C5C12728DDDAC0A94D8415B898BF1D3&scp=1&sq=eleanor%20r%20belmont&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-09-25. "Eleanor Robson Belmont, a legendary figure in the world of society and the arts, died last night in her sleep at her home at Fifth Avenue and 93d Street. She was 100 years old."
- ^ Eaton, Walter Prichard (1910). The American Stage of Today. New York, NY: P.F. Collier & Son.
- ^ Mantle, Burns and Garrison P. Sherwood, eds., (1944) The Best Plays of 1899-1909, Philadelphia: The Blakiston Company, pp. 375,377,429,449,478,531.
- ^ "Eleanor Robson and August Belmont Wed. Married by Mgr. Lavelle at Actress's Home With Only Near Relatives Present. Honeymoon in The South. Star Of "The Dawn of a To-Morrow" Left The Stage On Feb. 12. Careers Of Bride And Bridegroom". New York Times. February 27, 1910. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0812F6355D1A728DDDAE0A94DA405B808DF1D3. Retrieved 2010-09-24. "August Belmont and Miss Eleanor Robson, the actress who crosed her stage career with the fall of the curtain on "The Dawn of a To-Morrow" at the Majestic Theatre, Brooklyn, on Feb. 12, were married yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock at, the home of the bride, 302 West Seventy-seventh Street, Mgr. Lavelle. assisted by Father Byrnes of St. Patrick's Cathedral, officiating."
- ^ Yellin, Victor Fell, "Mrs. Belmont, Matthew Perry, and the 'Japanese Minstrels'", American Music, v.14 n.3, Autumn, 1996, pp. 257-258.
[edit] External links
- Eleanor Robson Belmont at the Internet Movie Database
- Eleanor Robson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Eleanor Robson Belmont at Find a Grave
- 1905 Magazine Article
- Eleanor Robson Belmont Papers 1851-1979 via Columbia University
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