Eugenie Besserer

Eugenie Besserer (December 25, 1868 – May 28, 1934) was a French-American actress whose career spanned the stage and screen, encompassing Broadway, silent films, and the early sound era. Born in Marseilles, France, she was brought to Ottawa, Ontario as a child, where she attended the Convent of Notre Dame. Orphaned at a young age, she fled her guardians at twelve and made her way to New York City, arriving at Grand Central Station with twenty-five cents in Canadian currency. A street car conductor helped her locate a former governess, who in turn connected her with an uncle with whom she went to live. During this period she continued her education and developed a notable proficiency in fencing, reaching a level of skill that allowed her to hold her own against stage swashbuckler Alexander Salvini.

Besserer's theatrical career began under producer McKee Rankin, whose company featured Nance O'Neill as its star. She subsequently performed alongside stage actors including Frank Keenan and Wilton Lackaye, and as a young performer played a juvenile role with Maurice Barrymore. She completed a season at Pike's Opera House in Portland, Oregon, and appeared in a drama opposite Henry Kolker during another engagement. Her Broadway credits include an appearance in 1900 in Dangerous Women.

Her sister's illness drew Besserer to the West Coast, and she arrived in Hollywood in 1910 as film production there was just beginning. She became associated with the Selig Polyscope Company and was frequently cast in maternal roles on screen. In 1915 she portrayed Aunt Ray Innis in The Circular Staircase, based on Mary Roberts Rinehart's novel. Her most prominent screen credit came with The Jazz Singer, the first talkie film, in which she played the mother of Al Jolson's character.

In her personal life, Besserer married art dealer Albert W. Hegger at the age of fifteen. The couple had one daughter. Besserer died at her Hollywood home on May 28, 1934, at the age of sixty-four. A rosary service was held at Edwards Brothers Colonial Mortuary on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles, followed by a funeral mass at St. Theresa's Church. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.