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Nance O'Neil

April 26, 2024

Not to be confused with Nancy O'Neil.

Gertrude Lamson (October 8, 1874 – February 7, 1965), known professionally as Nance O'Neil or Nancy O'Neil, was an American stage and film actress who performed in plays in various theaters around the world but worked predominantly in the United States between the 1890s and 1930s.[1] At the height of her career, she was promoted on theater bills and in period trade publications and newspapers as the "American Bernhardt".

Nance O'Neil
Stars of the Photoplay, 1916
Born
Gertrude Lamson

(1874-10-08)October 8, 1874
Oakland, California, U.S.
DiedFebruary 7, 1965(1965-02-07) (aged 90)
Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Other namesNancy O'Neil
OccupationActress
Years active1893–1935
SpouseAlfred Hickman (m. 1916; his death 1931)

Early life edit

O'Neil was born in Oakland, California to George Lamson and Arre Findley.[2]

Stage career edit

 
Sunset Magazine, May–October, 1903

O'Neil's first performance in a professional production was in the role of a nun in Sarah at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco on October 16, 1893.[1] Before returning to San Francisco in 1898 and 1899 as a star, headlining in the plays The Jewess and The Shadow, she spent the preceding years honing her acting skills by playing in every type of venue, "from barns to first-class theatres", in towns throughout the country's West and Northwest.[3][4] O'Neil later described that early period of her career as a time when she appeared "in fully a hundred characters, varying from soubrettes to heavies."[3]

As her celebrity grew, after her success in San Francisco, O'Neil embarked on an around-the-world tour, performing in Hawaii, Australia, Egypt, and in many other locations overseas.[5] Those extensive travels and stage appearances were managed by McKee Rankin—an actor, manager, and producer—who was instrumental in also making her a star in Australia and in overseeing her London debut at the Adelphi Theatre on September 1, 1902, in the play Magda. The next day, back in the United States, The New York Times reported on that important performance in England, noting that in the early acts of the play O'Neil "gave an intense, imperious and unequal rendering of the part."[6] The newspaper, however, then added that the actress's "nervousness" later eased on stage and she "aroused the big audience to enthusiasm in the climax of the third act, and obtained a good reception."[6][7] Unfortunately, two other plays in which O'Neil also starred in London that same month—Camille and Elizabeth, Queen of England—were poorly received by English critics and forced her to terminate early her plans for additional engagements there in October 1902.[8] The London Times wholly dismissed her company's presentation of Camille as "flauntingly, overwhelming provincial" and criticized her performance in Elizabeth, Queen of England as "lacking tenderness".[9]

In 1906, in her role as the title character in an adaptation of Leah, the Forsaken, O'Neil recreated the role made famous by Italian actress Adelaide Ristori. She also appeared in Trilby, Camille, The Common Standard, The Wanderer, Macbeth, Agnes, Sappho, The Passion Flower,[10] Hedda Gabler, and many other productions in the United States and Europe. In 1908 a theater critic for The New York Times shared his opinions regarding O'Neil's acting talents, providing what he viewed as both the strengths and weaknesses of her performances:

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....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.[11]

The statuesque[12] O'Neil performed in Louisville, Kentucky, opposite such actors as Wilton Lackaye, Edmund Breese, William Faversham, Thomas A. Wise, and Harriet MacGibbon. There were regular productions, including Ned McCobb's Daughter, The Front Page, and The Big Fight.

For over four decades, O'Neil also performed in a wide variety of Broadway productions. She appeared early in her career in True to Life at the Murray Hill Theatre in Manhattan in 1896 and then, late in her career, in Night in the House at the Booth Theatre in 1935.[13]

Film edit

O'Neil began acting in silent films with studios in New York and New Jersey before moving to California to work in Hollywood productions. Among her early films are the 1915 drama The Kreutzer Sonata and the 1916 five-reeler The Witch. Both of those motion pictures were filmed at Fox Film Corporation's facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey. More than a decade later, she made a successful transition to the sound era, although she retired from films after working a few years in the new medium. Some of O'Neil's screen appearances in that period include performances in the 1930 features Ladies of Leisure, The Royal Bed, and The Rogue Song; in the 1931 releases Cimarron and Transgression; and in the 1932 medical drama False Faces, her final film.

Relationship with Lizzie Borden edit

In 1904, O'Neil met acquitted murder suspect Lizzie Borden while in Boston. The two had a close friendship, which incited considerable gossip.[14][15]

O'Neil was referenced as a character in the musical Lizzie Borden: A Musical Tragedy in Two Axe, where she was played by Suellen Vance. The women's implied romantic relationship was explored as well in the 2010 play Nance O'Neil by David Foley[16] and the 2006 novel Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait.[17]

O'Neil was also cited as a character in a play by William Norfolk, The Lights are Warm and Colored. Set in 1905, it uses Lizzie's friendship with O'Neil and other theatrical players as a vehicle for a play within a play. The actors recreate scenes from the murder trial in an improv-like setting, coached or criticized by Lizzie and Emma. The play implies that Lizzie was innocent, and the real perpetrator was the maid, who makes a surprise visit at the end.[18]

Marriage and death edit

O'Neil in 1916 married Alfred Hickman (né Alfred Scott Devereaux-Hickman), a British-born film actor who was previously married to actress Blanche Walsh. The same year that Hickman and O'Neil married, they costarred in the Fox film The Witch. Then they costarred on screen again in 1917, portraying Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra in The Fall of the Romanoffs. O'Neil's marriage to Hickman continued for another 14 years, until Alfred's death in 1931.

In her final years, O'Neil resided at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey. She died there, at age 90, on February 7, 1965.[19] A cinerary urn containing her ashes was transported to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. There, her remains were placed in the park's columbarium, inside the niche that also holds her husband Alfred's cinerary urn.[citation needed]

Partial filmography edit

 
O'Neil as Jane Brett in still from the 1916 film The Toilers (also known as Those Who Toil )[20]

References and notes edit

  1. ^ a b Young, William C. "Nance O'Neil", Famous Actors and Actresses on the American Stage: Documents of American Theater History (volume 2, K-Z), New York: R.R. Bowker Company, 1975, pp. 887-893. Internet Archive, San Francisco. Retrieved and borrowed on line December 26, 2019.
  2. ^ GREAT STARS OF THE AMERICAN STAGE" by Daniel Blum c. 1952 Profile #36
  3. ^ a b Young, p. 890.
  4. ^ "HUNTING 'LOCAL COLOR': Adventures of an American Dramatist in the Gold-Mining Country", The New York Times, November 26, 1899, p. 18. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  5. ^ Young, p.891.
  6. ^ a b NANCE O'NEIL IN 'MAGDA': American Actress's London Debut--The Papers Critical but Friendly", The New York Times, September 2, 1902, page 9. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  7. ^ In 1899, McKee Rankin and O'Neil were rumored to have married but the announcement was subsequently declared incorrect. Also, the cited September 2, 1902 news report in The New York Times confirms that Rankin was still traveling with O'Neil in 1902 on her world tour. The newspaper states that Rankin was among the cast in Magda, performing in London in the role of Colonel Schwartze.
  8. ^ "AMERICAN ACTRESS FAILS.: Shortage of Cash Forced Nance O'Neil to Terminate London Engagement", The New York Times, September 24, 1902, p. 9; ProQuest.
  9. ^ "NANCE O'NEIL CRITICISED.: London Times Says Her Performance in 'Camille' Is Flauntingly, Overwhelmingly Provincial", The New York Times, September 9, 1902, p. 9; "NANCE O'NEIL'S PLAY.: The London Times Criticises Her Revival of 'Elizabeth, Queen of England'", The New York Times, September 17, 1902, p. 9. ProQuest.
  10. ^ "The Passion Flower". The Drama. 11 (1): 22. October 1920.
  11. ^ "Nance O'Neil's Acting and What It Represents", The New York Times, 11 October 1908.
  12. ^ Lehr, Dick (2017-01-11). The Birth of a Movement: How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights. Hachette UK. p. 67. ISBN 978-1610398244. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  13. ^ "Nance O'Neil", Internet Broadway Database (IBDB), The Broadway League, New York, N.Y. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  14. ^ "Sisters Estranged Over Nance O'Neill". The San Francisco Call. June 7, 1905. Retrieved June 13, 2008 – via WikiMedia Commons.
  15. ^ Adams, Cecil (March 13, 2001). "Did Lizzie Borden kill her parents with an ax because she was discovered having a lesbian affair?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  16. ^ Rooney, David (September 20, 2010). "Lizzie Borden Finds Love (Perhaps) After the Ax". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Pierce, J. Kingston. "Jazz-Age Justice: Lizzie Borden Takes a Swing at Old Boston". Kirkus Review. Kirkus Media LLC. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  18. ^ Bay, Sherman (November 24, 2012). "The Lights are Warm and Colored". play.
  19. ^ "Nance O'Neil, 90, Tragedienne Of Stage in Early 1900s, Dead". New York Times. February 8, 1965. Retrieved 2015-01-06. Nance O'Neil, an actress who starred in dozens of tragic roles in the early part of the century, died yesterday in Englewood, N.J. She was 90 years old. ...
  20. ^ "Those Who Toil (1916)", catalog, AFI. Retrieved December 27, 2019.

Further reading edit

  • Johnson Briscoe (1908). The Actors' Birthday Book: 2d Series. An Authoritative Insight Into the Lives of the Men and Women of the Stage Born Between January First and December Thirty-first. Moffat, Yard. p. 229.
  • John Herbert Gill – Detecting Gertrude Stein And Other Suspects on the Shadow Side of Modernism (ISBN 0-9727091-0-X)

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nance O'Neil.
  • Nance O'Neil at IMDb
  • Nance O'Neil filmography at the American Film Institute
  • on famousandgay.com
  • on lizzieandrewborden.com
  • How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder on http://crimemagazine.com
  • Straight Dope staff report by John Corrado
  • The Lights are Warm and Colored on YouTube performed by the St. Louis City Players, 1969
  • Nance O'Neil and Elsie Ferguson in "The House of Women"(1927)
  • Nance O'Neil, gallery ; University of Washington, Sayre collection (*upgraded to new url)

April 26, 2024
nance, neil, confused, with, nancy, neil, gertrude, lamson, october, 1874, february, 1965, known, professionally, nancy, neil, american, stage, film, actress, performed, plays, various, theaters, around, world, worked, predominantly, united, states, between, 1. Not to be confused with Nancy O Neil Gertrude Lamson October 8 1874 February 7 1965 known professionally as Nance O Neil or Nancy O Neil was an American stage and film actress who performed in plays in various theaters around the world but worked predominantly in the United States between the 1890s and 1930s 1 At the height of her career she was promoted on theater bills and in period trade publications and newspapers as the American Bernhardt Nance O NeilStars of the Photoplay 1916BornGertrude Lamson 1874 10 08 October 8 1874Oakland California U S DiedFebruary 7 1965 1965 02 07 aged 90 Englewood New Jersey U S Other namesNancy O NeilOccupationActressYears active1893 1935SpouseAlfred Hickman m 1916 his death 1931 Contents 1 Early life 2 Stage career 3 Film 4 Relationship with Lizzie Borden 5 Marriage and death 6 Partial filmography 7 References and notes 8 Further reading 9 External linksEarly life editO Neil was born in Oakland California to George Lamson and Arre Findley 2 Stage career edit nbsp Sunset Magazine May October 1903 O Neil s first performance in a professional production was in the role of a nun in Sarah at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco on October 16 1893 1 Before returning to San Francisco in 1898 and 1899 as a star headlining in the plays The Jewess and The Shadow she spent the preceding years honing her acting skills by playing in every type of venue from barns to first class theatres in towns throughout the country s West and Northwest 3 4 O Neil later described that early period of her career as a time when she appeared in fully a hundred characters varying from soubrettes to heavies 3 As her celebrity grew after her success in San Francisco O Neil embarked on an around the world tour performing in Hawaii Australia Egypt and in many other locations overseas 5 Those extensive travels and stage appearances were managed by McKee Rankin an actor manager and producer who was instrumental in also making her a star in Australia and in overseeing her London debut at the Adelphi Theatre on September 1 1902 in the play Magda The next day back in the United States The New York Times reported on that important performance in England noting that in the early acts of the play O Neil gave an intense imperious and unequal rendering of the part 6 The newspaper however then added that the actress s nervousness later eased on stage and she aroused the big audience to enthusiasm in the climax of the third act and obtained a good reception 6 7 Unfortunately two other plays in which O Neil also starred in London that same month Camille and Elizabeth Queen of England were poorly received by English critics and forced her to terminate early her plans for additional engagements there in October 1902 8 The London Times wholly dismissed her company s presentation of Camille as flauntingly overwhelming provincial and criticized her performance in Elizabeth Queen of England as lacking tenderness 9 In 1906 in her role as the title character in an adaptation of Leah the Forsaken O Neil recreated the role made famous by Italian actress Adelaide Ristori She also appeared in Trilby Camille The Common Standard The Wanderer Macbeth Agnes Sappho The Passion Flower 10 Hedda Gabler and many other productions in the United States and Europe In 1908 a theater critic for The New York Times shared his opinions regarding O Neil s acting talents providing what he viewed as both the strengths and weaknesses of her performances 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 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 11 The statuesque 12 O Neil performed in Louisville Kentucky opposite such actors as Wilton Lackaye Edmund Breese William Faversham Thomas A Wise and Harriet MacGibbon There were regular productions including Ned McCobb s Daughter The Front Page and The Big Fight For over four decades O Neil also performed in a wide variety of Broadway productions She appeared early in her career in True to Life at the Murray Hill Theatre in Manhattan in 1896 and then late in her career in Night in the House at the Booth Theatre in 1935 13 Film editO Neil began acting in silent films with studios in New York and New Jersey before moving to California to work in Hollywood productions Among her early films are the 1915 drama The Kreutzer Sonata and the 1916 five reeler The Witch Both of those motion pictures were filmed at Fox Film Corporation s facilities in Fort Lee New Jersey More than a decade later she made a successful transition to the sound era although she retired from films after working a few years in the new medium Some of O Neil s screen appearances in that period include performances in the 1930 features Ladies of Leisure The Royal Bed and The Rogue Song in the 1931 releases Cimarron and Transgression and in the 1932 medical drama False Faces her final film Relationship with Lizzie Borden editIn 1904 O Neil met acquitted murder suspect Lizzie Borden while in Boston The two had a close friendship which incited considerable gossip 14 15 O Neil was referenced as a character in the musical Lizzie Borden A Musical Tragedy in Two Axe where she was played by Suellen Vance The women s implied romantic relationship was explored as well in the 2010 play Nance O Neil by David Foley 16 and the 2006 novel Miss Lizzie by Walter Satterthwait 17 O Neil was also cited as a character in a play by William Norfolk The Lights are Warm and Colored Set in 1905 it uses Lizzie s friendship with O Neil and other theatrical players as a vehicle for a play within a play The actors recreate scenes from the murder trial in an improv like setting coached or criticized by Lizzie and Emma The play implies that Lizzie was innocent and the real perpetrator was the maid who makes a surprise visit at the end 18 Marriage and death editO Neil in 1916 married Alfred Hickman ne Alfred Scott Devereaux Hickman a British born film actor who was previously married to actress Blanche Walsh The same year that Hickman and O Neil married they costarred in the Fox film The Witch Then they costarred on screen again in 1917 portraying Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra in The Fall of the Romanoffs O Neil s marriage to Hickman continued for another 14 years until Alfred s death in 1931 In her final years O Neil resided at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood New Jersey She died there at age 90 on February 7 1965 19 A cinerary urn containing her ashes was transported to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale California There her remains were placed in the park s columbarium inside the niche that also holds her husband Alfred s cinerary urn citation needed Partial filmography edit nbsp O Neil as Jane Brett in still from the 1916 film The Toilers also known as Those Who Toil 20 The Count of Monte Cristo 1913 Mercedes The Kreutzer Sonata 1915 Miriam Friedlander Princess Romanoff 1915 Princess Fedora Romanoff A Woman s Past 1915 Jane Hawley Souls in Bondage 1916 Rosa Brenner The Witch 1916 Zora Fernandez The Flames of Johannis 1916 Zirah Marika The Toilers 1916 Jane Brett The Iron Woman 1916 Sarah Maitland Greed 1917 Alma The Seventh Sin 1917 Alma Mrs Balfame 1917 Mrs Balfame Hedda Gabler 1917 Hedda Gabler The Final Payment 1917 Nina The Fall of the Romanoffs 1917 Czarina Alexandra Seven Deadly Sins 1917 Alma Greed amp Seventh Sin Resurrection 1927 His Glorious Night 1929 Eugenie Ladies of Leisure 1930 Mrs John Strong The Rogue Song 1930 Princess Alexandra The Lady of Scandal 1930 Lady Trench The Florodora Girl 1930 Mrs Vibart Call of the Flesh 1930 Mother Superior The Eyes of the World 1930 Myra Willard The Royal Bed 1931 Queen Martha Cimarron 1931 Felice Venable Resurrection 1931 Princess Marya The Good Bad Girl 1931 Mrs J P Henderson Transgression 1931 Honora Nora Maury A Woman of Experience 1931 Countess Runyi Their Mad Moment 1931 Grand Mere Secret Service 1931 Mrs Varney Westward Passage 1932 Mrs von Stael uncredited False Faces 1932 Mrs FinnReferences and notes edit a b Young William C Nance O Neil Famous Actors and Actresses on the American Stage Documents of American Theater History volume 2 K Z New York R R Bowker Company 1975 pp 887 893 Internet Archive San Francisco Retrieved and borrowed on line December 26 2019 GREAT STARS OF THE AMERICAN STAGE by Daniel Blum c 1952Profile 36 a b Young p 890 HUNTING LOCAL COLOR Adventures of an American Dramatist in the Gold Mining Country The New York Times November 26 1899 p 18 ProQuest Historical Newspapers Young p 891 a b NANCE O NEIL IN MAGDA American Actress s London Debut The Papers Critical but Friendly The New York Times September 2 1902 page 9 ProQuest Historical Newspapers In 1899 McKee Rankin and O Neil were rumored to have married but the announcement was subsequently declared incorrect Also the cited September 2 1902 news report in The New York Times confirms that Rankin was still traveling with O Neil in 1902 on her world tour The newspaper states that Rankin was among the cast in Magda performing in London in the role of Colonel Schwartze AMERICAN ACTRESS FAILS Shortage of Cash Forced Nance O Neil to Terminate London Engagement The New York Times September 24 1902 p 9 ProQuest NANCE O NEIL CRITICISED London Times Says Her Performance in Camille Is Flauntingly Overwhelmingly Provincial The New York Times September 9 1902 p 9 NANCE O NEIL S PLAY The London Times Criticises Her Revival of Elizabeth Queen of England The New York Times September 17 1902 p 9 ProQuest The Passion Flower The Drama 11 1 22 October 1920 Nance O Neil s Acting and What It Represents The New York Times 11 October 1908 Lehr Dick 2017 01 11 The Birth of a Movement How Birth of a Nation Ignited the Battle for Civil Rights Hachette UK p 67 ISBN 978 1610398244 Retrieved 2017 12 27 Nance O Neil Internet Broadway Database IBDB The Broadway League New York N Y Retrieved December 27 2019 Sisters Estranged Over Nance O Neill The San Francisco Call June 7 1905 Retrieved June 13 2008 via WikiMedia Commons Adams Cecil March 13 2001 Did Lizzie Borden kill her parents with an ax because she was discovered having a lesbian affair The Straight Dope Retrieved November 21 2008 Rooney David September 20 2010 Lizzie Borden Finds Love Perhaps After the Ax The New York Times Pierce J Kingston Jazz Age Justice Lizzie Borden Takes a Swing at Old Boston Kirkus Review Kirkus Media LLC Retrieved 6 January 2020 Bay Sherman November 24 2012 The Lights are Warm and Colored play Nance O Neil 90 Tragedienne Of Stage in Early 1900s Dead New York Times February 8 1965 Retrieved 2015 01 06 Nance O Neil an actress who starred in dozens of tragic roles in the early part of the century died yesterday in Englewood N J She was 90 years old Those Who Toil 1916 catalog AFI Retrieved December 27 2019 Further reading editJohnson Briscoe 1908 The Actors Birthday Book 2d Series An Authoritative Insight Into the Lives of the Men and Women of the Stage Born Between January First and December Thirty first Moffat Yard p 229 John Herbert Gill Detecting Gertrude Stein And Other Suspects on the Shadow Side of Modernism ISBN 0 9727091 0 X External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nance O Neil Nance O Neil at IMDb Nance O Neil filmography at the American Film Institute Nance O Neil biography on famousandgay com Nance O Neil gallery on lizzieandrewborden com How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder on http crimemagazine com Straight Dope staff report by John Corrado The Lights are Warm and Colored on YouTube performed by the St Louis City Players 1969 Nance O Neil page at Corbis Nance O Neil and Elsie Ferguson in The House of Women 1927 Nance O Neil gallery University of Washington Sayre collection upgraded to new url Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nance O 27Neil amp oldid 1174073511, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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