A History Of Liverpool Thespians - Annie Russell

 

Annie Ellen Russell was born on the 12th of January 1864 in Liverpool to Irish parents, Joseph Russell, a civil engineer, and Jane Mount. She was five years old when she immigrated with her family to Canada, where her father Joseph Russell soon died. She went on the stage at the age of eight to help support her mother and two younger siblings, making her first professional appearance in a production of 'Miss Moulton' at the Montreal Academy of Music in 1872. Six years later, she joined a Gilbert and Sullivan company and made her first New York appearance in 'H.M.S. Pinafore' at the Lyceum Theater in May 1879. The following year, she toured South America and the West Indies with a repertory company, overseeing her younger brother Tommy, the child actor in a touring production, playing a variety of roles from young boys to elderly women. She then returned to New York and the Madison Square Theatre, in 1881, where she made herself look older with the help of an elaborate hairdo and a long dress in order to win the title role in the stage version of 'Esmeralda'. This ran for 350 performances and the wholesome role made her a star. Not performing on a similar scale for a few years, she was not completely removed from theatrical life. In 1883, she joined the New York Fifth Avenue Theatre company, with her mother, Jane, and little brother, Tommy, performing in the title role in the equally wholesome 'Hazel Kirke', before joining A.M. Palmer's company in Madison Square. She married Eugene Wiley Presbrey, a stage manager for the A.M. Palmer Company, on the 2nd of November 1884. She had suffered from periodic illnesses throughout her life, contributing to large gaps in her career and in late December 1890, many of her professional friends arranged a testimonial to be performed in February 1891 as problems with her abusive husband aggravated her poor health. Friends raised $3,000 in this benefit performance for her, and she used the money to flee her husband (they would be divorced in 1897), and spent two years in Italy, recovering.

Annie and her husband in 'Major Barbara'

In 1903, she performed in Boston, playing the title role in 'The Younger Mrs. Parling' and met her second husband, the English actor Oswald Harker, stage name Oswald Yorke, in this play. They were married on the 27th of March 1904 and shortly after her marriage she starred in a new play 'Brother Jacques'. Annie returned to London in 1905 and her first play upon her return was the role Barbara Undershaft in Bernard Shaw's 'Major Barbara', Shaw having written the part with Annie specifically in mind.
Annie appeared in many productions under the rubric of Charles Froham, the American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Her close friend (and sometime benefactor) was Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, daughter of the founders of the Ladies Home Journal, who was married to that publications second editor Edward Bok and later to the great musician Efrem Zimbalist (father of the actor Efrem Zimabalist Jr.) For a time starting in 1912, Russell headed up something called the Old English Comedy Company, which produced sure-fire favorites like 'She Stoops to Conquer', 'The Rivals', and 'Much Ado About Nothing'.  In 1918 she retired from acting, and moved to Winter Park, Florida (near Orlando). 

The Annie Russell Theatre

Having divorced Oswald in 1929 she had begun teaching at Rollins College and remained doing so until her death on the 16th of January 1936, aged 72. She had no children from either marriage and was buried in St. Stephen's Cemetery in Milburn, New Jersey. Her longtime friend Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, donated funds to build a theatre in her honour at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. In 1931 the Annie Russell Theatre was built at the school and today is best know for…being 'haunted' by Annie! The three hundred and seventy-five seat theatre is the longest continuously operating theater in Florida.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2023/06/a-history-of-liverpool-thespians-sidney.html