Digby Bell

Digby Valentine Bell was born on November 8, 1849, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and went on to become a Broadway performer and vaudeville entertainer whose stage career spanned from 1880 to 1915. He died on June 20, 1917, in New York City.

Bell trained in Europe as a concert singer before building his reputation in comic musical productions, including Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas and work with the McCaull Comic Opera Company. An early marker of his professional standing came on April 26, 1878, when he gave a concert at Chickering Hall in New York City that received a favorable review from the New York Times. His first starring role came in 1892 with the musical Jupiter. Bell is also credited with introducing the song "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo." He appeared multiple times alongside Lillian Russell in productions including Princess Nicotine, The Queen of Brilliants, and The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. His later career moved increasingly toward nonmusical plays and vaudeville.

His Broadway credits include The Begum, in which he played Myhnt-Jhuleep during its run from September 21 to December 10, 1887. He portrayed Dr. Willow in The Hoosier Doctor, which opened April 18, 1898, and took on the role of Sam Weller in Mr. Pickwick, which ran from January 19 through May 1903. In February and March of 1905, he played J. Wesley Pipp in The Education of Mr. Pipp, and appeared in An International Marriage in January 1909. That same year he played William Dorritt in The Debtors, which opened October 12, 1909. His final Broadway appearances came in 1915, when he performed in the chorus of The Yeomen of the Guard, running April 19 through May 8, and took the role of Dr. Daly in The Sorcerer, which ran May 24 through June 5.

Bell also appeared in two films: The Education of Mr. Pipp in 1914, based on the stage production in which he had performed, and Father and the Boys in 1915. Among his recorded works from 1909 are "The Tough Boy on the Right Field Fence," "The Blind Boy in the Gallery," "The Man Who Fanned Casey," "Experiences of a Commuter," "Day and Knight," and "A Discontented Egg."

In his personal life, Bell was married at least twice. His first wife, Lillian Brooks, divorced him in March 1883, and he married his second wife, Laura Joyce Bell, born Hannah Joyce Maskell, shortly after that divorce was finalized. Laura Joyce Bell died in New York in 1904. Bell was an avid golfer and a devoted New York Giants baseball fan, interests he shared with his close friend and frequent co-star DeWolf Hopper.