Bessie Wynn (June 1876 – July 8, 1968) was an American stage and vaudeville actress and singer. She was born in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and sang in church choirs while growing up. At 23 in 1899 she first appeared in the chorus of ''Papa's Wife'' starring
Anna Held
Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish-born French stage performer of Jewish origin on Broadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-law ...
. She continued on Broadway and ultimately appeared in two enormous hit plays ''
The Wizard of Oz
''The Wizard of Oz'' is a 1939 American Musical film, musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Based on the 1900 novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' by L. Frank Baum, it was primarily directed by Victor Fleming, who left pro ...
''(1902) starring
Anna Laughlin;, ''
Babes in Toyland''(1903-05) with William Norris and
Mabel Barrison; and ''Wonderland'' in 1905. In 1907 she began appearing in Vaudeville and was a highly paid starrer for the
Keith-Orpheum organization. She continued with Keith's in Vaudeville until Keith's folded in the 1930s. She then retired to her own chicken farm but came out of retirement in 1949 for a
Palace Theater revival of Vaudeville programs.
Bessie Wynn: "The Lady Dainty of Vaudeville"
by TravSD June 1 2013
As far as motion pictures she appeared in two news animated weeklys in 1913 and 1914. If she appeared for earlier film companies such as Edison, Lubin or Biograph she did so anonymously.
References
External links
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cover of music sheet
NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection)
portrait
Univ. of Washington, Sayre collection)
Bessie Wynn
portrait by Windeatt
flip side
of Windeatt portrait
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynn, Bessie
1876 births
1968 deaths
Actresses from Chicago
People from Illinois
Singers from Chicago