Frances McGrath

Frances McGrath (born 1895 or 1896) was an American actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1914 to 1929. She was married to Forrest Orr, and the couple had a son, Forrest Orr Jr.

McGrath's introduction to the stage came at the age of three and a half, when family friends who were actors in a production of The Country Editor invited her to take on a child's role. By age five she was performing a dual role in East Lynne, and from age six through ten she appeared in The Peddler. She then spent four years living in a convent before resuming her theatrical work.

At fourteen, McGrath performed alongside Henry Miller in For a Woman. She subsequently took the juvenile female lead in Getting a Polish with May Irwin, after which she joined a stock company in Union Hill, New Jersey, serving as its ingenue. Her regional work continued at several venues, including the Grand Opera House in Paterson, the Gaiety Theater in Hoboken, the American Theatre in Philadelphia, and the Garrick Theatre in New York. In 1915 she joined the Grand Opera House Players in Brooklyn as their ingenue, and in 1918 she became the leading lady of the Auditorium Players in Baltimore.

McGrath's regional prominence grew further when, by April 1921, she headed the Frances McGrath Resident Players at the Lyceum Theatre in Paterson, New Jersey. In May 1922 she returned to New York to perform with the Blaney Players at the Yorkville Theater, an engagement that the trade publication The Billboard described as drawing a response with "the appearance of a small-sized tho friendly riot to get into the playhouse." She later performed with the Fulton Players in Brooklyn.

On Broadway, McGrath appeared in three productions across her career. She appeared in The Governor's Boss in 1914, portrayed Florence Gordon in Two Strangers From Nowhere in 1924, and portrayed Josephine Gilbert in Tired Business Man in 1929. In 1927, a New York Times article reported that McGrath had broken two vertebrae after falling from a window in front of her home during a nightmare.