Julia Marlowe
| Julia Marlowe | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Sarah Frances Frost August 17, 1865 Cumberland, England, UK |
| Died | November 12, 1950 (aged 85) New York City, New York |
| Occupation | Stage actress |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Taber (1894-1900) Edward Hugh Sothern (1911-1933; his death) |
Julia Marlowe (August 17, 1865 – November 12, 1950) was an English-born American actress known for her interpretations of William Shakespeare.
Marlowe was born as Sarah Frances Frost at Caldbeck, Cumberland, England, to clogger and shoemaker John Frost and Sarah (Strong) Hodgson. When she was four her family emigrated to the United States. Her father, who was an avid fan of local sports, "fled to America in 1870 under the erroneous impression that he had destroyed a neighbor's eye by flicking a whip at him during a race." He changed his name to Brough and after first settling in Kansas he moved his family east to Portsmouth, Ohio and then Cincinnati.
Marlowe obtained the nickname of "Fanny" and in her early teens began her career in the chorus of a juvenile opera company. While touring with the company for nearly a year performing Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore (1879), under the direction of Colonel Robert E.J. Miles (manager of the Cincinnati Opera House) she was given the part of Sir Joseph Porter. She later played in W. S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea.
Her training and initial success was due primarily to Miles's sister-in-law Ada Dow. Still in Cincinnati, Fanny played her first Shakespearean roles as Balthazar in Romeo and Juliet and as Maria in Twelfth Night she was billed as Fanny Brough. Soon after Ada Dow took Fanny to New York where for several years she received voice training by Parsons Price. Finished with the voice training she changed her name to Julia Marlowe. As an unknown, Marlowe was, at first, unable to get a Shakesperean role, but she was determined. Colonel Miles, the new manager of the New York Bijou Opera House, gave her the opportunity to play for two weeks on tour in New England, starting in New London, Connecticut. This gave Marlowe the repertoire she needed. On 20 October 1887, her mother hired the Bijou for a matinee of Ingomar, the Barbarian (Maria Lovell's adaptation of Friedrich Halm's Der Sohn der Wildnis), in which Marlowe received acclaim which served as a stepping stone to Broadway.
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