Rose Eytinge

Rose Eytinge (November 21, 1835 – December 20, 1911) was a Jewish American actress and author born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is thought to have been the first American actress to earn a three-figure salary. Her Broadway career spanned from 1866 to 1907.

Eytinge began performing on the amateur stage at age seventeen before being invited to join a professional touring company. Her professional debut took place at the Olympic Theatre, where she appeared alongside Edwin Booth in The Fool's Revenge. She subsequently toured Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. with Booth and others. President Abraham Lincoln attended her performances during this period, and she received an invitation to the White House.

Her Broadway credits included starring roles in Arrah-Na-Pogue and Griffith Gaunt, in which she played Katherine Peyton in 1866. She also appeared in Under the Gaslight as Laura Courtlandt in 1867, as well as in Citizen Pierre and In the Bishop's Carriage, among other productions. Later stage roles included Nancy Sykes in Oliver Twist, Gervaise in Drink, Ophelia opposite E. L. Davenport's Hamlet, and Desdemona in a production featuring James W. Wallack as Othello and Davenport as Iago. Additional credits included Led Astray as Armande in 1873, The Two Orphans as Marianne in 1874, and Rose Michel in the title role in 1875.

In 1855, Eytinge married newspaperman and author David M. Barnes (1820–1900); the couple divorced in 1862. They had one daughter, Rose Courtney, herself an actress, who married actor John T. Raymond. Eytinge's niece, Pearl Eytinge, was also an actress. In 1869, she married Colonel George H. Butler, U.S. Consul General to Egypt. The couple lived abroad for two years, during which Eytinge paused her performing career. They had two children: a daughter, Florence (b. 1875), who married Dr. Walsh, and a son, Benjamin Franklin Butler (1871–1904), a newspaper artist who was a roommate of the young John Barrymore and who married actress Alice Johnson. Eytinge sued for divorce from Butler in 1882, citing abusive behavior and infidelities. In 1880, she married actor Cyril Searle; they separated four years later.

Following her time in Egypt, Eytinge returned to New York and joined the Union Square Theatre Company. It was during this period that she performed one of her most celebrated roles, Shakespeare's Cleopatra, drawing on her firsthand experiences living in Egypt.

Beyond performing, Eytinge produced a body of literary work. She co-authored the novel It Happened This Way with S. Ada Fisher in 1890 and wrote the play Golden Chains. She also produced adaptations of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and Dombey and Son, as well as an adaptation of Browning's Colombe's Birthday. Her personal memoirs were published in 1905 under the title The Memories of Rose Eytinge.

Eytinge gave her final performance in 1907. She died of a stroke on December 20, 1911, at the Brunswick Home in Amityville, New York, where she had been supported by the Actors Fund of America. Her body was sent to Washington for burial.