Victory Bateman

Victory Bateman was an American stage and silent film actress born on April 6, 1865, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She died on March 2, 1926, in Los Angeles, California. Both of her parents, Thomas Creese and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Creese, worked as actors. Bateman came into the world nine days before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and was given the name Victory in recognition of the Union's triumph over the Confederate South in the Civil War.

Bateman's stage career included a Broadway appearance in 1899 in We'Uns of Tennessee. She also toured in The Man From Mexico in 1900 and in Seven Days' Leave in 1919.

Her personal life drew public attention in the early 1890s when she became entangled in the divorce proceedings involving actors Aubrey Boucicault and Amy Busby. Although she was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, the controversy compelled her to resign from the Professional Woman's League, an organization for women in the profession. Among her marriages was one to Wilfred Clarke, a son of John Sleeper Clarke and Asia Booth and a nephew of both Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. Clarke and Bateman had been separated for a considerable period by the time of the Boucicault proceedings. She subsequently married Harry Mestayer and later George Cleveland, and she, along with both of those husbands, became involved in the silent film industry.

Bateman appeared in a substantial number of silent films between 1912 and 1924. Her screen credits include Nicholas Nickleby (1912), in which she played Miss La Creevy; Romeo and Juliet (1916) as Lady Montague; The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1918) as Miss De Hooley; The Service Star (1918) as Aunt Judith; and Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1924) as Joan Durbeyfield. Additional film appearances include Her Cousin Fred (1912), Tangled Relations (1912), Her Nephews from Labrador (1913), The Dove in the Eagle's Nest (1913), Freckles (1914), The Power of Evil (1916), Cinderella's Twin (1920), Keeping Up with Lizzie (1921), A Trip to Paradise (1921), Human Wreckage (1923), and The Turmoil (1924), among others.

Contemporaries noted that Bateman bore a physical resemblance to actress Marie Dressler and to Frances Bavier, who later became known for her role as Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show.