Blanche Walsh
Encyclopedia
Blanche Walsh was a highly regarded American stage actress who appeared in one film, Resurrection
based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy
and the first three reel treatment of any Tolstoy story.
Walsh's father was T P Fatty Walsh, a Tammany
politician and a prison warden. She made her stage debut at 15 in 1888 and acted in Charles Frohman
's stock company. Walsh trooped for years in support of bigger names like Marie Wainwright
, William Gillette
and Nat C. Goodwin. In 1896 she accompanied Goodwin on a tour of Australia
in Trilby.
Walsh began picking up the emotional roles that Fanny Davenport
had been playing as Davenport was ill for a time prior to her 1898 death. Walsh was much younger than Davenport but bore a strong resemblance to Davenport. After several years apprenticing in the emotional roles Walsh moved up to more challenging parts such as Maslova the prostitute in Tolstoy's Resurrection and Margaret Rolfe in The Woman in the Case. She also starred in a production of Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata
in 1904.
's new Famous Players
company. This came around the same time that Zukor was showing Queen Elizabeth, a feature length French film, starring Sarah Bernhardt
. Zukor's aim was to lure big name Broadway stars to make feature films, films that are over 50 minutes. Walsh was one of the first major stage stars to make a film over 30 minutes long. Today Resurrection is a lost film
.
from 1896 to 1903. Hickman later married the actress Nance O'Neil who bore a resemblance to Walsh. Walsh married William Travers in 1906. She didn't have any children.
Resurrection (novel)
Resurrection , first published in 1899, was the last novel written by Leo Tolstoy. The book is the last of his major long fiction works published in his lifetime . Tolstoy intended the novel as an exposition of injustice of man-made laws and the hypocrisy of institutionalized church...
based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and the first three reel treatment of any Tolstoy story.
Walsh's father was T P Fatty Walsh, a Tammany
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
politician and a prison warden. She made her stage debut at 15 in 1888 and acted in Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
's stock company. Walsh trooped for years in support of bigger names like Marie Wainwright
Marie Wainwright
Marie Wainwright was an American stage and sometimes screen actress. Achieved bulk of her fame on the Victorian stage....
, William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
and Nat C. Goodwin. In 1896 she accompanied Goodwin on a tour of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in Trilby.
Walsh began picking up the emotional roles that Fanny Davenport
Fanny Davenport
Fanny Lily Gipsy Davenport was an English-American stage actress. The daughter of Edward Loomis Davenport and Fanny Vining, she was born in London, England, but was brought to America when a child and educated in the Boston public schools...
had been playing as Davenport was ill for a time prior to her 1898 death. Walsh was much younger than Davenport but bore a strong resemblance to Davenport. After several years apprenticing in the emotional roles Walsh moved up to more challenging parts such as Maslova the prostitute in Tolstoy's Resurrection and Margaret Rolfe in The Woman in the Case. She also starred in a production of Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata
The Kreutzer Sonata
The Kreutzer Sonata is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1889 and promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage...
in 1904.
Motion Picture
In 1912 Walsh agreed to do one motion picture for an independent film company, a film adaptation of the Tolstoy play she had been acting in on the stage, Resurrection. The film would be distributed through Adolph ZukorAdolph Zukor
Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...
's new Famous Players
Famous Players-Lasky
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company created on July 19, 1916 from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company -- originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays -- and Jesse L...
company. This came around the same time that Zukor was showing Queen Elizabeth, a feature length French film, starring Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
. Zukor's aim was to lure big name Broadway stars to make feature films, films that are over 50 minutes. Walsh was one of the first major stage stars to make a film over 30 minutes long. Today Resurrection is a lost film
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
.
Family
Walsh was married to Alfred HickmanAlfred Hickman
Alfred Hickman was an English actor. He was married to actress Nance O'Neil. He appeared in 35 films between 1914 and 1931.-Selected filmography:* Are You a Mason? * The Iron Woman...
from 1896 to 1903. Hickman later married the actress Nance O'Neil who bore a resemblance to Walsh. Walsh married William Travers in 1906. She didn't have any children.
Death
Walsh like Fanny Davenport seemed to be plagued by health problems. Contemporary newspaper accounts register her occasional hospitalizations. Walsh died on October 31, 1915 after a final bout with her kidney problems. Her sudden death was a shock to theater goers and journalists alike.External links
- Blanche Walsh at IBDB.com
- Blanche Walsh at IMDb.com
- Blanche Walsh portrait Culme Footlight Notes
- Blanche Walsh photo from Flickr
- Blanche Walsh looking very much the school girl; Univ of Louisville Macauley Collections
- Blanche Walsh in Egyptian attire Univ of Louisville Macauley Collections
- Blanche Walsh in The Actors Birthday book by Johnson Briscoe
- Blanche Walsh University of Washington Sayre Collection