Laura Nelson Hall

Laura Nelson Hall
Portrait of the actress Laura Nelson Hall circa 1915.
Born	Laura Barnhurst (1876-07-11)11 July 1876 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	11 July 1936(1936-07-11) (aged 60) New Rochelle, New York
Occupation	Actress
Years active	(1897-1915)
Agent	Augustin Daly
Spouse(s)	Ned Howard Fowler
Signature

Laura Nelson Hall (née Barnhurst July 11, 1876 – July 11, 1936) was an actress in theater and vaudeville stock companies in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Hall was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and made her stage debut there with the Girard Avenue Stock Company on 13 September 1897 in a play called Our Friends. The following year she appeared in a supporting role in the original production of The Moth and the Flame along with Herbert Kelcey and Effie Shannon. This bit part earned her considerable notice and a new manager, Augustin Daly. With Daly's, Hall's star was quick to rise, and she went on to get better parts, landing a large role in The Great Ruby, An Enemy to the King, and a spot on a national tour or The Purple Lady.

This string of successes carried Hall through to Broadway, where one of her more successful plays was Sydney Rosenfeld's farce The Two Escutcheons, which had an uncommonly long run at New York City's Bijou Theatre in 1899.

From New York, Hall headed west, appearing with the Ralph Cummings Stock Company on the Pacific Coast as well as at the Grand Opera House San Francisco, and from between 1900 and 1901 she supported such stars as Joseph Haworth, Edwin Arden, Walter Perkins, and Minnie Seligman. When she finally returned to the East, it was for a part in Paul Armstrong's drama, St. Ann which she followed up with a long engagement at Columbus, Ohio's Empire Stock Company.

Despite laudatory reviews in the press for her Midwestern showings, misfortune struck in Hall's life. In January 1904, her husband, the actor Ned Howard Fowler committed suicide. Hall was with Fowler when he shot himself, along with her personal physician, Dr. Starling Wilcox. The doctor had been called to attend the young actor, who was "exceedingly nervous" from overwork. Hall and Fowler were both employed by the Empire, and had just wed after arriving with their troupe in Columbus.

Hall wasted no time getting back to work, however. She soon became a leading lady of the Arden Stock Company in Washington, D.C. before moving on to New Orleans, Louisiana. There she became even more prominent, appearing with the Grand Opera House Stock Company. In October 1905 she was the featured actress in a production of A Modern Magdalene. The New Orleans Times-Picayune praised her work in the play, commenting about her role as Katinka, The young and beautiful leading lady is a most capable actress, and it would be more difficult to imagine a more intelligent interpretation of the role than that given by Miss Hall.