Elsie Ferguson
| Elsie Ferguson | |
|---|---|
Publicity photo of Ferguson (1913)
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| Born |
August 19, 1883 New York City, New York, United States |
| Died | November 15, 1961 (aged 78) New London, Connecticut, United States |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1902–1943 |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick C. Hoey (1907-1914) (divorced) Thomas Clarke, Jr. (1916-1923) (divorced) Frederick Worlock (1924-1930) (divorced) Victor Augustus Seymour Egan (1934-1956) (his death) |
Elsie Louise Ferguson (August 19, 1883 – November 15, 1961) was an American stage and film actress.
Born in New York City, Elsie Ferguson was the only child of Hiram and Amelia Ferguson, her father was a successful attorney. Raised and educated in Manhattan, she became interested in the theater at a young age and made her stage debut at seventeen as a chorus girl in a musical comedy. She quickly became known as one of the most beautiful women to ever set foot on the American stage. For almost two years from 1903-05 she was a cast member in The Girl from Kays which despite its title starred Sam Bernard. In 1908 she was leading lady to Edgar Selwyn in Pierre of the Plains. By 1909, after several years apprenticeship under several producers including Charles Frohman, Klaw & Erlanger, Charles Dillingham and Henry B. Harris, she was a major Broadway star, starring in Such A Little Queen. In 1910, she spent time on the stage in London. Actresses Evelyn Nesbit and Ethel Barrymore were friends of hers.
During World War I, a number of Broadway stars organized a campaign to sell Liberty Bonds from the theatre stage prior to the performance as well as at highly publicized appearances at places such as the New York Public Library. Ferguson, noted for her great beauty and as one of the "Park Avenue aristocrats," on one occasion is reputed to have sold $85,000.00 worth of bonds in less than an hour.
At the peak of her popularity, several film studios offered her a contract but she declined them all until widely respected New York-based French director, Maurice Tourneur, proposed she appear in the lead role as a sophisticated patrician in his 1917 silent film, Barbary Sheep. She also may have consented to films because she no longer had the protection of her Broadway employers Henry B. Harris, who died on the Titanic in 1912, and Charles Frohman, who perished on the Lusitania in 1915. Producer and director Adolph Zukor then signed her to an 18-film, three-year, $5,000-per-week contract.
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