Barbara Milton

Barbara Milton, born Barbara Watkins on July 8, 1898, in Louisville, Kentucky, was an American theatre actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1916 to 1920. She died on July 20, 1971, in Louisville, at the age of 73. She is also identified in records under the name Barbara Milton Watkins Strater.

Milton was the daughter of Mrs. Edward J. Watkins and grew up in Louisville, where she attended Louisville Girls' High School. Her family had notable connections to Louisville's publishing world: her uncle, Bruce Haldeman, served as President of the company that published the Louisville Courier-Journal, the newspaper associated with Colonel Henry Watterson, and her grandfather, Colonel W. A. Milton, held the position of Secretary-Treasurer of the same company. It was Colonel Watterson, a family friend, who later suggested her stage name, Barbara Milton, derived from her grandfather's surname.

Her interest in acting was sparked during her graduating year at Louisville Girls' High School in the spring of 1916, when she played the role of Katherine in a production of The Taming of the Shrew performed by the graduating class at the Macauley Theatre. Following that experience, she sought the counsel of Colonel Watterson, who provided her with a letter of recommendation. That summer, accompanied by her mother, she traveled to New York and joined Henry Miller's company as a general understudy.

Her persistence as an understudy led to her being cast in the role of Elisabeth Daingerfield in Come Out of the Kitchen, one of her three verified Broadway credits. The New York Times, in its December 3, 1916 edition, noted that Miller had entrusted the role of the Daingerfield girl to the newcomer from the South and that his decision was rewarded by a performance described as fresh and natural, adding to the effectiveness of the production. Her remaining Broadway appearances included the role of Harriet Lane in Call the Doctor, performed at the Empire Theatre, and the role of Nellie in The Acquittal. In 1921, she married Edward L. Strater. She subsequently performed with the Little Theatre Company in Louisville.