Julie Opp

Julie Opp (January 28, 1871 – April 9, 1921) was an American stage actress whose career brought her recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in New York City, she was the daughter of John "Johnny" Opp, the son of Bavarian immigrants who operated a saloon on the Bowery and participated in local politics, and Mary Dwyer, a first-generation Irish-American who was roughly thirteen years her husband's junior. Opp attended public school before her mother enrolled her in a local convent, where she told a visiting bishop that she wished to become a ballet dancer. By the time she completed her education, her ambitions had shifted to journalism, and with assistance from a friend she secured a position as a fashion writer for the New York Recorder.

Her journalism work brought Opp into frequent contact with figures from the theatrical world. Among those who encouraged her to pursue acting were Sarah Bernhardt and Emma Calvé. She appeared in a single performance of Camille and gave dramatic readings at social events, but declined an offer from playwright George du Maurier to appear in the original 1895 production of Trilby. It was the wife of British actor George Alexander who finally persuaded her to commit to the stage in 1896, when Opp joined Alexander's company to play Hymen in Shakespeare's As You Like It at London's St. James's Theatre. She subsequently replaced Julia Neilson as Rosalind in that production and later assumed the lead role of Princess Pannonia in Pinero's The Princess and the Butterfly when Neilson departed from that production as well.

In November 1897, Opp married British actor Robert Loraine and traveled to America, making her New York debut on November 23 at the Lyceum Theater in a Daniel Frohman production of The Princess and the Butterfly. The following year she appeared as Belle in R. C. Carton's The Tree of Knowledge. She returned to England in 1900 to perform with Alexander's company across several seasons, taking on roles in a range of productions: Holf in Anthony Hope's Rupert of Hentzau, Antoinette de Mauban in Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda, Mrs. Egerton in Walter Frith's The Man of Forty, Annabel East in Pearl Craigie's The Wisdom of the Wise, Mrs. Herbertson in Charles Haddon Chambers' The Awakening, and Edith Thorold in Henry V. Esmond's The Wilderness.

Opp returned to New York in 1902 to appear opposite William Faversham in The Royal Rival, an adaptation of Jules Massenet's Don Caesar de Kazan by Gerald du Maurier, in which she played the role of Marlta. That same year she received a divorce from Loraine, and on December 29, 1902, she married Faversham, a British actor who built a lengthy career in America. The two frequently appeared together on stage in the years that followed, including in R. C. Carton's Lord and Lady Algy, Edwin Milton Royle's Squaw Man, Charles Frederick Nirdlinger's The World and His Wife, Edward Childs Carpenter's The Barber of New Orleans, Stephen Phillips' Herod, and Edward Knoblock's The Faun. Her Broadway career spanned from 1901 to 1911 and also included the production Letty, among other credits. In 1906, Opp published The Squaw Man: a Novel, drawn from Royle's play.

In 1914, while traveling abroad with Faversham and their two sons, Opp became seriously ill. She appeared to recover by autumn and returned to the stage alongside her husband in The Hawk by Francis de Croisset and Marie Zane Taylor, but she soon suffered a relapse and was compelled to leave the production, which proved to be the final appearance of her career. She spent her remaining years between a residence in New York City and a country home on Long Island. Opp died on April 9, 1921, following a failed operation at the Post Graduate Hospital. She was survived by her husband and their two sons, William Jr., born in 1905, and Phillip, born in 1907.