Ruth Draper

Ruth Draper
Portrait of Ruth Draper by John Singer Sargent, 1913
Born	(1884-12-02)December 2, 1884 New York City, New York, United States
Died	December 30, 1956(1956-12-30) (aged 72) New York City, New York, United States
Occupation	Stage actress

Ruth Draper (December 2, 1884 – December 30, 1956) was an American actress, dramatist and noted diseuse who specialized in character-driven monologues and monodrama. Her best-known pieces include The Italian Lesson, Three Women and Mr. Clifford, Doctors and Diets, and A Church in Italy.

Ruth Draper was born in New York City, the youngest child of Dr. William Henry and Ruth (née Dana) Draper. Her father, who was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, had the affluence to support a large family with the help of several servants. Ruth Draper's mother was the daughter of Charles Anderson Dana, editor and publisher of The New York Sun and had married Dr. Draper in 1878 some years after the loss of his first wife, Lucy. Her nephew, Paul Draper, was a noted dancer and actor. Draper's second cousin was the society architect Paul Phipps, father of British actress Joyce Grenfell (Grenfell's career as a monologist was directly inspired by Draper). Her nephew Raimund Sanders Draper was a heroic WWII pilot.

Ruth Draper's inspiration to become an actress came from the Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski, a friend of her family. She made her Broadway debut in the 1916 play A Lady's Name by Cyril Harcourt, and by 1921 was becoming well known as monologist, or more specifically diseuse, appearing in monodramas.

Thus, Draper dominated the field of professional solo performance during the second quarter of the twentieth century, performing with great success throughout the United States and Europe. Draper's one-person shows differed in kind from the majority of the early lyceum and Chautauqua solo performers coming before her, as the monologues/monodramas she performed were original characters as opposed to selections of published literature.