Eleanor Painter

Eleanor Painter, born Eleanor Painter on September 12, 1885, in Walkerville, Iowa, was an American opera singer and Broadway performer. She was the daughter of Mary Ellen and John Painter. After growing up in Colorado, she relocated to Manhattan to pursue a career in singing.

Painter undertook formal vocal training in Berlin in 1912, and the following year made her operatic debut at Covent Garden in London. She went on to sing for five seasons with the Charlottenburg Opera in Berlin, a commitment she balanced alongside her work in musical theater. Her operatic repertory included the title roles in Madame Butterfly and Carmen, performed in New York City, Philadelphia, and Berlin.

Her Broadway career spanned from 1914 to 1927 and encompassed a range of productions across multiple genres. In 1914, between operatic seasons, she starred in The Lilac Domino in New York City. From 1915 to 1917, she took on the title role in the operetta The Princess Pat, a part composed specifically for her by Victor Herbert. Her additional Broadway credits included the musical The Last Waltz, the musical The Chiffon Girl, the revue A Night in Paris, the play The Texas Nightingale, and the play The Exile. During her time in New York, she also gave solo recitals accompanied by pianist Alice Marion Shaw.

In 1916, Painter married English baritone Wilfred Douthitt, who performed under the name Louis Graveure, in New York. She later married Major Charles Henry Strong, a businessman from Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931, and settled in Cleveland with him. Eleanor Painter Strong died there on November 3, 1947.