Maude Adams
Born
on November 11, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden
began her theatrical career at the of nine months, when she was carried
on stage by her mother, a leading lady of the Salt Lake City stock
age company, in a local production. She took speaking roles as soon
as she could talk, adopting her actress mother's maiden name (Adams)
for the stage. At five she attracted considerable attention in San
Francisco in the play Fritz, and at age 16 she joined Edward H. Sothern's
company in New York City, making her debut in that city in 1888. Soon
after her appearance in A Midnight Bell (1889), she moved to Charles
Frohman's company where, from 1892 to 1897, she regularly played opposite
John Drew in such pieces as Clyde Fitch's Masked Ball and Rosemary.
She first won top billing in 1897 as Lady Babble in James M. Barrie's
The Little Minister. Although she played a wide range of roles, including
several of Shakespeare's great heroines, it was her portrayals of
Barrie characters that brought her acclaim and the lasting devotion
of audiences. Her greatest successes were in Quality Street in 1902
and again in 1915-16, What Every Woman Knows (1908-09), A Kiss for
Cinderella (1916-18), and especially Peter Pan. She performed the
leading role in Peter Pan in more than 1,500 performances in 1905-07,
1913, and 1918. She also appeared in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
(1899), Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon (1900-01), Friedrich von Schiller's
Joan of Arc (Die Jungfrau von Orleans) (1909), and Rostand's Chantecler
(1910-11). |