Helen Lackaye

Helen Lackaye (January 10, 1883 – October 19, 1940) was an American actress born in Washington, D.C., who maintained an active Broadway career from 1903 to 1928. She was the sister of actors Wilton Lackaye and James Lackaye, and received her early education at Holy Cross Convent in Washington, D.C.

Lackaye's professional stage career began in New York City with a performance in Ninety and Nine at the Academy of Music, after which she worked with Amelia Bingham's repertory company. Her Broadway debut came in 1903, when she portrayed Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She went on to appear in numerous Broadway productions over the following decades, including She Walked in Her Sleep (1918), Crooked Gamblers (1920) as Mrs. Robertson, and As Ye Mould (1921) as Mrs. J. Lomax Graham.

Among her most notable Broadway roles, Lackaye played Mrs. Pengard in Captain Applejack (1921), Mary Byrd in Izzy (1924), Mrs. Charles Loring in 90 Horse Power (1926), Kitty Doyle in Gentle Grafters (1926), and Mrs. Emily Pasteel in Revolt (1928). In addition to her stage work, she appeared in the 1918 film The Knife, in which she played Louise Meredith.

Lackaye was married to Harry J. Ridings, who managed the Cohan Grand Opera House in Chicago. In the year before her death, she taught dramatics in Cincinnati, Ohio, having spent the previous twelve years living in New York following her effective retirement from acting. Lackaye died on October 19, 1940, aboard a Baltimore and Ohio train as it traveled through Pennsylvania toward the Jersey City Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey.