Nance O'Neil
| Nance O'Neil | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Gertrude Lamson October 8, 1874 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 1965 (aged 90) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Other names | Nancy O'Neil |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1902-1932 |
| Spouse(s) | Alfred Hickman (1916-1931; his death) |
Nance O'Neil (aka Nancy O'Neil; October 8, 1874 – February 7, 1965) was an American actress of stage and silent cinema of the early 20th century, dubbed the American Bernhardt.
O'Neil was born in Oakland, California, as Gertrude Lamson to George Lamson and Arre Findley. When she decided to become an actress, her religious father, an auctioneer, denounced his daughter in church for going on the stage and asked the congregation to pray for her.
A critic in The New York Times wrote of O'Neil's talents in 1908, stressing the positives of her performances while warning of the actress' drawbacks. "There is no actress on the stage at present who has a more remarkable gift for emotional expression, nor is there a single one who has been more lavishly endowed by nature with the physical gifts which enter into the equipment of great actresses", he wrote. "Miss O'Neil has a kind of massive beauty, and she is not without much natural grace. Her voice is a splendid organ, rich and deep, with plenty of color and sweetness. There are moments when it is expressive of deep feeling. But there are more extended periods when it is pitched in monotonous cadences, during which the actress speaks seem to be delivered without a hint of genuine feeling or understanding, when, in short, she is simply an actress giving voice to words that she has conned and learned by rote and delivered in a sort of phonographic manner without a suggestion of the thought behind them".
Early in her acting career, she was managed by McKee Rankin, an actor, manager, and producer who made her a star in Australia and oversaw her London debut in 1902 in the play Magda, in which she was described as "intense, imperious and unequal". (In 1899, Rankin and O'Neil were rumored to have married but the announcement was declared incorrect.) In her role as the title character in the 1906 adaptation of Leah, the Forsaken, she recreated the role made famous by Italian actress Adelaide Ristori. Her performances in Leah (an adaptation of a translation of Salomon Hermann von Mosenthal's Deborah) were described as 'genius' by Fremont Older. She also appeared in Trilby, Camille, The Common Standard, The Wanderer, Macbeth, Agnes, Sappho, The Passion Flower, Hedda Gabler, and many other productions in the United States and Europe.
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