Louise Beaudet

Louise Beaudet

Louise Beaudet in 1891
Born December 5, 1859
Tours, France
Died December 31, 1947
New York, New York, USA

Louise Beaudet (December 5, 1859 – December 31, 1947) an actress for more than 50 years, starred in stage productions ranging from comic opera to Shakespeare and appeared in more than 60 silent films.

Biography

Louise Beaudet was born in Tours, France in 1860,[1][2] but her family emigrated to Saint-Émile, Quebec, Canada when she was very young. She later moved to New York and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.[3]

After performing in amateur productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, she was hired by Maurice Grau's French Opera Company.[4] She debuted in the fall of 1879 [4] in the opera bouffe, Le Petit Duc/The Little Duke at Booth's Theatre. The opera starred French actress Aimée and was performed in both French and English.[3]

Shortly thereafter, she joined the Baldwin Theatre Stock Company of San Francisco where she played the ingénue.[1] It was there that she met the actor Daniel E. Bandmann who encouraged her to take on more serious roles and with whom she became romantically involved.[2] They founded a theatrical touring company, Beaudet playing all of Shakespeare’s principal female roles to Bandmann’s leading men[5] and the love interest in his adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.[6] They toured the world together for nearly four years, covering more than 70,000 miles.[2]

She returned to the New York stage in 1889, as a member of the James C. Duff Opera Company. She sang in the comic opera Paola and the role of Pitti-Sing in The Mikado at The Broadway Theatre.[4] In 1891, she performed at the Casino Theatre as Paresina in the opera Apollo or the Order of Delphi with Lillian Russell, as Toffana in Indigo and as Cristel in The Tyrolean co-starring Marie Tempest.[4]

1892, she was back on Broadway with Pauline Hall's opera company in Puritania.[4]

In 1893, Beaudet starred in the eight-month run of America during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, then began her own touring opera company, performing repertoire of French Opéra bouffe.[1] They presented Jacinta at Miner's Fifth Avenue Theatre, with Beaudet in the leading role.[4]

She performed at Palace Theatre, London and gave a command performance at Buckingham Palace in 1895.[1] In London, she performed with Constance Collier in the musical play, A Maid of Athens [7]

In 1899, she returned to New York to play the title role in Madame Fifi at the Manhattan Theatre.[4]

In 1912, she joined the Company Players at Vitagraph Studios.[1] She played supporting roles in more than sixty silent films, including Our Wives (1913), One Can't Always Tell (1913), The Battle Cry of Peace (1915), My Official Wife (1914), and The Gold Diggers (1923).

Beaudet continued to perform on stage in New York until her retirement in 1934.[8]

She died December 31, 1947 in her home in New York, New York, USA.[8]

Broadway Performances

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "A Well-Rounded Career". New York Times. September 29, 1918.
  2. 1 2 3 Graham, Franklin (1902). Histrionic Montreal. Toronto: W. Briggs. p. 206. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Dale, Alan (1890). Queens of the Stage. New York: G. W. Dillingham. pp. 233–245. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Brown, Thomas Allston (1903). A History of the New York Stage, Vol. 3. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
  5. ↑ ed. by Morgan, Henry James (1903). Types of Canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with Canada. Toronto: William Briggs. p. 23. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ ed. by Scott, Clement (1888). The Theater: A Monthly Review of Drama, Music and the Fine Arts, Vol XII. London: Strand Publishing Company.
  7. ↑ Archer, William (1897). The Theatrical World of 1897. London: Walter Scott, Ltd.
  8. 1 2 "Louise Beaudet, 87, An Actress 50 Years". New York Times. January 1, 1948.
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