Cora Tanner

Cora Tanner (c. 1861–1945) was an American stage actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1884 to 1902. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she made her stage debut at McVicker's Theater in Chicago, reportedly at the age of 14. Her first appearance in London came in 1880.

Tanner achieved a significant milestone in 1884 when she became the first American performer to play the title role in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Princess Ida. That same year she took on the role of Annie Meadows in Robert Buchanan's Alone in London, a part she continued to perform through 1888. According to the 1901 book Players of the Present, the 1885–86 season marked the beginning of a sustained period in which she remained consistently before the public as a star. In 1888 she appeared in another Buchanan work, Fascination. Her Broadway credits also included The Last Appeal and Lady Margaret.

The mid-1890s brought further prominent work, including the Broadway production The Sporting Duchess during the 1895–96 season. In 1900 she portrayed the character Aurora Borealis in the Broadway musical A Million Dollars. Her stage career came to a close in 1902.

Tanner's personal life attracted periodic press attention. Her divorce from Colonel William E. Sinn, a Brooklyn theatre manager, became a public matter when Sinn argued that her prior marriage to Fred Farlin had never been legally dissolved, an argument he ultimately did not prevail on. In 1899, reports circulated that she had nearly died after consuming poisoned candy left at her hotel by a messenger. In 1903, she married Charles S. Reed in New York. Tanner died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in March 1945 at a reported age of 84.