Blanche Bates (August 25, 1873 – December 25, 1941) was an American actress.

Early years

Bates was born in Portland, Oregon, while her parents (both of whom were actors) were on a road tour. As an infant, she traveled with them on a tour of Australia before they returned to live in San Francisco. When Bates was a girl, she wanted to be a teacher, a goal that she achieved by becoming a kindergarten teacher in San Francisco. Her career changed, however, after she took a small part in a Stockwell Stock Company production in which her mother was appearing in San Francisco.

Career

Bates made her début in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

in a benefit performance of

Brander Matthews James Brander Matthews (February 21, 1852 – March 31, 1929) was an American academic, writer and literary critic. He was the first full-time professor of dramatic literature at Columbia University in New York and played a significant role in est ...

's ''This Picture and That''. Among her early successes were her Mrs. Hillary in ''The Senator'', Phyllis in ''The Charity Ball'', and Nora in ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...

''. She joined Daly's company in 1898 and, the next year at

Daly's Theatre Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresar ...

in New York, played Mirtza in ''The Great Ruby''. For the summer of 1900 Bates did a special engagement at the Elitch Theatre, in Denver, Colorado. Mary Elitch stated that "Very special inducements were made to tempt the star from the attractions of New York, and she came to me with ten trunks full of beautiful gowns and gorgeous costumes for the characters she was to portray." Her first performance was in ''The Dancing Girl'', which was followed by

Augustin Daly John Augustin Daly (July 20, 1838June 7, 1899) was one of the most influential men in American theatre during his lifetime. Drama critic, theatre manager, playwright, and adapter, he became the first recognized stage director in America. He exer ...

's ''The Last Word.'' Later in the summer she performed as Rosalind in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

.'' For this production "the back of the building was removed so that the stage extended out beneath the trees." In 1901 she appeared as Cigarette in ''Under Two Flags'' at the Garden Theatre in New York. Thereafter devoting herself to the productions of David Belasco, she won great success in ''The Darling of the Gods'' (1902), ''The Girl of the Golden West'' (1905), ''Nobody's Widow'' (1910) by

Avery Hopwood James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920. Early life Hopwood was born to James and Jule Pendergast Hopwood on May 28, 1882 ...

, and after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

in ''The Famous Mrs. Fair'' (1919). Bates retired in 1926, settling with her husband in San Francisco, but she returned to the stage in 1933 in a supporting role in ''The Lake''. In 1902, H.M. Caldwell Company, New York and Boston, published a lavish souvenir book, ''Blanche Bates Edition of "Under Two Flags"'' by Ouida, with handsome illustrated covers, and numerous photographs from the play version (written by

Paul M. Potter Paul Meredith Potter (June 3, 1853 - March 7, 1921) was an American playwright and journalist, best known for adapting the popular novel ''Trilby'' into a stage play.(8 March 1921)Paul M. Potter, Playwright, Dead: Dramatist of "Trilby" Stricken i ...

) starring Bates.

Family and death

Born in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of F. M. Bates, Bates was educated in the public schools of San Francisco. In 1894 Bates married Milton F. Davis, at the time a cavalry lieutenant in the U.S. Army, but they divorced four weeks later. On November 28, 1912 she married

George Creel George Edward Creel (December 1, 1876 – October 2, 1953) was an American investigative journalist and writer, a politician and government official. He served as the head of the United States Committee on Public Information, a propaganda organ ...

, a journalist and politician, and they had two children, a son George Jr. and a daughter Frances. On December 25, 1941, Bates died in San Francisco. She had had a stroke six months earlier.

Publications

*"Other Holiday Gift-Books", ''The Publishers' Weekly'', Nov. 29, 1902, v.LXII, n.22, whole no. 1609, p. 102. *Strang, ''Famous Actresses of the Day in America'' (Boston, 1899)

References

External links

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Blanche Bates
portrait gallery from NYP Library Billy Rose Collection
Blanche Bates
University of Washington, Sayre collection
Blanche Bates with her children, portraitchildren, Frances Creel and George Creel Jr. with a dog
Wayback Machine) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Blanche 1873 births 1941 deaths American film actresses Actresses from Portland, Oregon 19th-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses American stage actresses Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park