Blanche Bates

Blanche Bates (August 25, 1873 – December 25, 1941) was an American stage actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1899 to 1933. Born in Portland, Oregon, while her parents — both actors — were traveling on a road tour, she spent her infancy accompanying them on a tour of Australia before the family settled in San Francisco. Educated in San Francisco's public schools, Bates initially pursued a different profession, working as a kindergarten teacher in the city. Her path toward the stage began when she accepted a small part in a Stockwell Stock Company production in which her mother was performing.

Bates made her debut in San Francisco in a benefit performance of Brander Matthews's This Picture and That. Early roles included Mrs. Hillary in The Senator, Phyllis in The Charity Ball, and Nora in A Doll's House. She joined Daly's company in 1898, and the following year appeared at Daly's Theatre in New York as Mirtza in The Great Ruby. During the summer of 1900, she undertook a special engagement at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado, where her performances included The Dancing Girl, Augustin Daly's The Last Word, and the role of Rosalind in As You Like It, a production for which the back of the building was removed so the stage extended beneath the trees.

Also in 1900, Bates originated the role of Cho-Cho San in David Belasco's play Madame Butterfly. In 1901 she appeared as Cigarette in Under Two Flags at the Garden Theatre in New York, a role that prompted H.M. Caldwell Company of New York and Boston to publish a lavish illustrated souvenir book, the Blanche Bates Edition of Under Two Flags by Ouida, in 1902. She subsequently devoted herself to Belasco's productions, earning recognition in The Darling of the Gods in 1902, The Girl of the Golden West in 1905, and Nobody's Widow in 1910, the latter written by Avery Hopwood. Following World War I, she appeared in The Famous Mrs. Fair in 1919. Her Broadway credits also included the play Naughty Anthony, among other productions.

In her personal life, Bates married Milton F. Davis, then a cavalry lieutenant in the U.S. Army, in 1894, though the marriage ended in divorce four weeks later. On November 28, 1912, she married journalist and politician George Creel, with whom she had two children: a son, George Jr., and a daughter, Frances. Bates retired from the stage in 1926 and settled with her husband in San Francisco. She returned to Broadway in 1933, taking a supporting role in The Lake. Bates died in San Francisco on December 25, 1941, six months after suffering a stroke.