Maud Jeffries
| Maud Jeffries | |
|---|---|
Maud Evelyn Craven Jeffries
|
|
| Born | 14 December 1869 Willow Farm, near Lula, Mississippi |
| Died | 26 September 1946 (76 years) Gundaroo, New South Wales |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1889-1906 |
| Spouse(s) | James Bunbury Nott Osborne (1878-1934) |
| Children |
James Bedford Jeffries Osborne (1908-1984) |
| Parent(s) |
James Kenilworth Jeffries |
James Bedford Jeffries Osborne (1908-1984)
James Kenilworth Jeffries
Maud Evelyn Craven Jeffries (14 December 1869 – 26 September 1946) was an American actress. A popular subject for a wide range of theatrical post-cards and studio photographs, she was noted for her height, voice, presence, graceful figure, attractive features, expressive eyes, and beautiful face.
She married wealthy Australian grazier, Boer war veteran, and former aide-de-camp to New Zealand's Governor-General, James Bunbury Nott Osborne (1878-1934). Osborne was so enamoured of Jeffries that he joined her theatrical company in late 1903 in order to press his suit. Engaged in May 1904, they married in October 1904, and had two children together (one of whom died as an infant). Jeffries left the stage in 1906, and continued to live a quiet, very happy life, devoted to her family and her beautifully designed gardens, on their family property, "Bowylie", at Gundaroo, NSW, until her death, at 76 years, of cancer.
An audience favourite wherever she went, Jeffries' performances over a decade in New York, London, Australia, and New Zealand met wide critical acclaim; especially in the role of Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello and, in particular, for her creation of the role of Mercia in Wilson Barrett's masterpiece The Sign of the Cross. On viewing Jeffries' performance (when just 20) as Almida in Claudian, one critic observed:
"In Maud Jeffries we have an almost ideal Almida. It is emphatically a part for a young girl, and Miss Jeffries made it throb with life and genius. So youthful an actress so capable of feeling, not merely interpreting emotion, ought to and will have a future before her."
Jeffries was born on 14 December 1869 at Willow Farm, near Lula in Coahoma County, Mississippi, to James Kenilworth Jeffries (1845-), a cotton planter, and his wife Elizabeth Field Jeffries, née Smith (1847-). She had three younger brothers: Henry (1872-), James K. jnr. (1875-), and Norman Weathers Jeffries (1877-1959). Norman went with his sister to Australia and New Zealand, as part of her theatre company, in 1897, and remained with her company until she left the stage in 1906.
Initially educated at home, and originally intending to become a teacher, from the age of 13 she attended the prestigious Miss Higbee's School for Young Ladies in Memphis, Tennessee. A change in her family's fortunes meant that a career as a teacher was no longer possible, and her family encouraged her to pursue an acting career.
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