Julia Marlowe

Julia Marlowe, born Sarah Frances Frost on August 17, 1865, in Caldbeck, England, was an English-born American actress who became one of the foremost interpreters of Shakespeare on the American stage. She made her Broadway debut in 1895 and went on to appear in more than seventy Broadway productions before retiring in 1924. Her Broadway credits included Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and As You Like It, among others.

Marlowe's family emigrated to the United States when she was four years old. Her father, a clogger and shoemaker named John Frost, left England in 1870 after mistakenly believing he had injured a neighbor's eye during a race. He adopted the surname Brough and settled the family first in Kansas, then in Portsmouth, Ohio, and later Cincinnati. It was in Cincinnati that Marlowe, then known by the nickname Fanny, began performing in the chorus of a juvenile opera company. During nearly a year of touring with the company, she performed in Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore under the direction of Colonel Robert E. J. Miles, manager of the Cincinnati Opera House, who cast her in the role of Sir Joseph Porter. She subsequently appeared in W. S. Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea and took on her first Shakespearean roles, playing Balthazar in Romeo and Juliet and Maria in Twelfth Night, billed as Fanny Brough. Her early development owed significantly to Ada Dow, Miles's sister-in-law, who later brought her to New York for several years of voice training under Parsons Price. Upon completing that training, she adopted the stage name Julia Marlowe.

Unable at first to secure a Shakespearean role in New York, Marlowe accepted an opportunity from Colonel Miles, by then managing the New York Bijou Opera House, to tour New England for two weeks beginning in New London, Connecticut. On October 20, 1887, her mother arranged a matinee performance of Ingomar the Barbarian at the Bijou, in which Marlowe received considerable acclaim. That success served as a stepping stone to Broadway, where she debuted in 1895. Following her first Broadway success, she purchased the townhouse known as River Mansion at 337 Riverside Drive. By 1897 her fame had grown to the point that she was featured in the Sears catalog endorsing a ladies boot manufactured by Rich's Shoes.

In early 1891, while on tour in Philadelphia, Marlowe contracted a severe case of typhoid fever. The owner of the Philadelphia Times and his wife took her in and oversaw her recovery. Doctors at one point considered lancing her face to release toxins, but an alternative treatment was chosen that preserved her appearance and allowed her to continue her career.

Her first husband was Broadway actor Robert Taber. They married in 1894, and the union lasted until 1900, producing no children. Professional jealousy contributed to the end of the marriage, with Taber touring in England at the time of their divorce. In 1901, and again in a 1904 revival, Marlowe starred as Mary Tudor in Paul Kester's adaptation of When Knighthood Was in Flower, a production that brought her financial independence. Additional successes followed, including the role of Charlotte Oliver in the adaptation by Kester and Middleton of George Washington Cable's The Cavalier, and a return to Ingomar, both in 1903.

In 1904, Marlowe began a celebrated partnership with actor E. H. Sothern, appearing alongside him in Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet. The two toured extensively across the United States, expanding their repertoire in 1905 to include The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night. Dissatisfied with their compensation under manager Charles Frohman, they moved to management by the Shubert Brothers, under whom they received a percentage of profits. In 1906, the pair appeared together in Percy MacKaye's Jeanne d'Arc, Sudermann's John the Baptist, and The Sunken Bell. They subsequently toured England but were unable to attract audiences there and returned to the United States. Back in New York, they presented Shakespeare at the Academy of Music at reduced prices. After a period during which they dissolved their joint company and worked separately — with Marlowe appearing in J. B. Fagan's Gloria, Romeo and Juliet, and As You Like It, and playing Yvette in Mary Johnston's verse play The Goddess of Reason in 1908 — Sothern and Marlowe reunited at the end of 1909 in Antony and Cleopatra. In 1910, they toured Macbeth to enthusiastic notices before bringing it to New York, where it was a hit.

Marlowe and Sothern married in 1911 and continued touring their Shakespearean repertoire, including special performances for schoolchildren. In 1920 and 1921, the couple made eleven phonograph recordings for the Victor company, which are believed to be the only surviving audio record of Marlowe's voice. They brought The Merchant of Venice to New York in 1921. Marlowe's health subsequently declined, and she retired in 1924. She received an honorary doctorate from George Washington University in 1923 and another from Columbia University in 1943. Following Sothern's death in 1933, Marlowe largely withdrew from public life, though she occasionally visited close friends such as playwright Edward Sheldon. She died on November 12, 1950, in New York City, at the age of 85, and had no children. Marlowe was also engaged in feminist causes, including advocacy for women's suffrage.