Betty Callish

Betty Callish was a Dutch-born actress, singer, and violinist who performed in Dutch, English, German, French, and Italian. Born Babette Calisch on August 24, 1886, in Baarn, she was the daughter of Salomon Oreste Calisch and Aleida Oppenheim, both Jewish. Her mother was a first cousin of Dutch feminist Aletta Jacobs. Callish knew Sarah Bernhardt from childhood, and on Bernhardt's advice she pursued acting, trained as a singer in Berlin, and learned to play the violin.

Her stage training began in London at Herbert Beerbohm Tree's academy, the institution now known as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her English credits included Lady Ben and Leah Kleschna, both in 1905, followed by The Little Stranger in 1906, A Waltz Dream in 1911, and Orpheus in the Underground in 1912. She also appeared in London productions of The Laughing Husband and Sadie Love before bringing both shows to Broadway, where she performed between 1914 and 1915. Her American stage work continued with The Great Lover in Chicago in 1916 and The King during the 1917–1918 season. American critic Burns Mantle described her as a pretty soubrette who both sang and played violin.

In her personal life, Callish married Austrian conductor Felix Weingartner in 1922, becoming his fourth wife. Weingartner dedicated a symphony to her during their marriage, which ended in divorce by 1931. She was also a confidante of Queen Marie of Romania. Following her divorce and a period of treatment for alcoholism, she became a postulant of the Third Order Regular CSMV in 1941, taking the name Marica at the cloistered Convent of St Thomas the Martyr in Oxford, where she was known as Roxo Betty Weingartner. The date of her death is recorded as after 1941.