Fay Courteney

Frances K. Courteney, known professionally as Fay Courteney, was an American actress born in San Francisco, California, around 1878. The daughter of Herbert Courteney and A. H. Courteney, she grew up in a household headed by a building contractor father. She died in New York City on July 18, 1943, from a cerebral hemorrhage, in her sixties.

Courteney began her performing career in vaudeville, working both as part of the Courteney Sisters act alongside her sister and as a solo artist. Her voice, described as a deep, organ-like contralto, distinguished her throughout her stage work. She built substantial experience in stock companies across Cleveland, Columbus, Rochester, Detroit, and Toronto, and maintained a long professional association with actor Vaughan Glaser. In 1920, she appeared at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco, taking roles in Bought and Paid For, The Matinee Hero, and Happiness, the first two of which she co-starred in with Clay Clement.

Her Broadway career spanned from 1922 to 1939. She appeared in the comedy The Advertising of Kate in 1922, followed by She Couldn't Say No in 1926. It Never Rains ran during the 1929–1930 season, and Off to Buffalo brought her back to Broadway in 1939. In the later years of her career, Courteney extended her work into radio productions.

In her personal life, Courteney married Theodore L. Gamble in New Jersey in 1901; the marriage ended in divorce in 1910. She was known to enjoy driving automobiles and on occasion raced her car.