Stage ActressBorn: | October 27, 1867, Huntsville, AL |
Died: | May 9, 1948, New York City |
Buried: | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York |
Notes:• Born in Huntsville, AL and moved with her family to Boston when she was three.
• "ALLEN, VIOLA, actress, was born in Huntsville; daughter of C. Leslie and Sarah (Lynn) Allen, the former a character actor of an old Boston family, the latter of English descent. She accompanied her parents to Boston at the age of three; received her education in that city, at Wykham Hall, Toronto, and at a New York boarding school. At the age of fifteen she made her debut in 'Esmeralda' at the Madison Square theatre, New York; later joined John McCullough company, playing Virginia, Desdemona, Cordelia, etc.; played classical. Shakespearean and comedy roles with Lawrence Barrett, Tommaso Salvini, Joseph Jefferson and William J. Florence. For one season she played the leading part at the Boston museum; one year at Empire theatre; spent four years creating and playing roles in 'Liberty Hall', 'Sowing the Wind', 'The Masqueraders', 'Under the Red Robe', etc. Starred as Gloria Quayle in 'The Christian', 1898; produced 'In the Palace of the King', 1900, and 'The Eternal City', 1902. Under the management of her brother she began a series of Shakespearean revivals, 1903, and has also produced 'The School for Scandal'. Married: in 1906, to Peter Duryea. Residence: New York." - Alabama Biography
Related Links:• Alabama Biography - History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3, by Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, © 1921, p. 28.
• Cabinet Card Gallery - Cabinet Card
• Find a Grave - Short bio, photos of her and her grave site created by "MC" and posted January 13, 2005
• Flickr - Photos
• Internet Broadway Database - List of Broadway Plays
• Internet Movie Database - List of films
• New York Public Library - Portraits in the Portrait Gallery
• New York Times - Odd article about her secret marriage to a Kentucky horseman (Originally found at http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F30D13FD3B5A12738DDDA90A94D9405B868CF1D3.)
• Wikipedia - Bio
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Alabama Biography