Eleanor Elise Robson Belmont (13 December 1879 – 24 October 1979) was an English actress and prominent public figure in the United States.

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

wrote ''

Major Barbara ''Major Barbara'' is a three-act English play by George Bernard Shaw, written and premiered in 1905 and first published in 1907. The story concerns an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in ...

'' for her, but contractual problems prevented her from playing the role. Mrs. Belmont was involved in the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

Association as the first woman on the board of directors, and she founded the

Metropolitan Opera Guild The Metropolitan Opera Guild was established in 1935 to broaden the base of support for the Metropolitan Opera, promote greater interest in opera, and develop future audiences by reaching out to a wide public and serving as an educational resource ...

Early life

Eleanor Elise Robson was born on 13 December 1879 in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, Lancashire. She was the daughter of

Madge Carr Cook Madge Carr Cook (1856–1933) was an English-born American stage actress. Biography Cook was born Madge Carr on June 28, 1856, in Yorkshire, England. She debuted on stage at age 3, portraying Fleance in ''Macbeth'' in Sunderland, England. Cook po ...

and Charles Robson. Her mother was an English-born American stage actress and as a young girl, Eleanor moved to the United States. Her father disappeared or deserted her mother in 1880, and her mother remarried to Augustus Cook in 1891. Cook later sued her for annulment of their marriage.

Career

Her stage career began at age 17 in San Francisco and she worked in stock companies from

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. In 1899, she was a member of the summer stock company at the

Elitch Theatre The Historic Elitch Theatre is located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. Opened in 1890, it was centerpiece of the park that was the first zoo west of Chicago. The theatre was Denver's first professional thea ...

—the original

Summer stock theatre In American theater, summer stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock t ...

. She made her New York debut in 1900 as Bonita, the ranchman's daughter in

Augustus Thomas Augustus Thomas (January 8, 1857 – August 12, 1934) was an American playwright. Biography Born in St. Louis, Missouri and son of a medical doctor, Thomas worked a number of jobs including as a page in the 41st Congress, studying law, and gaini ...

's ''

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

''.

Her ten-year career as a leading

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

actress included top roles in such plays as Robert Browning's ''In a Balcony'' (1900),

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' (1903) opposite

Kyrle Bellew Harold Kyrle Money Bellew (28 March 1850 – 2 November 1911) was an English stage and silent film actor. He notably toured with Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter, Cora Brown-Potter in the 1880s and 1890s, and was cast as the leading man in many s ...

Israel Zangwill Israel Zangwill (21 January 18641 August 1926) was a British author at the forefront of Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl. He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the ...

's ''

Merely Mary Ann ''Merely Mary Ann'' a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy drama film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics '' 7th Heaven'' (1927), '' Street An ...

'' (1903–04 and 1907),

Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish poet, novelist, playwright, and hack writer. A prolific author of various literature, he is regarded among the most versatile writers of the Georgian e ...

's ''

She Stoops to Conquer ''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays ...

'' (1905), Zangwill's ''Nurse Marjorie'' (1906), and Paul Armstrong's adaptation of

Bret Harte Bret Harte ( , born Francis Brett Hart, August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

's '' Salomy Jane'' (1907).

Philanthropy

In 1912, she started the

Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving The Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving (SPUG) was a campaign group in New York against pointless gifts at Christmas, and particularly against the exploitation of junior employees by their supervisors. It was founded in 1912 by the actres ...

(SPUG) with

Anne Tracy Morgan Anne Tracy Morgan (July 25, 1873 – January 29, 1952) was an American philanthropist who provided relief efforts in aid to France during and after World War I and II. Morgan was educated privately, traveled frequently and grew up amongst the we ...

. Belmont joined the

's board of directors in 1933, founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild in 1935 and the National Council of the Metropolitan Opera in 1952. These organisations helped shape the multi-source public-private funding model used by US performing arts organisations in the ensuing decades

Personal life

Upon her marriage to August Belmont Jr. on 26 February 1910, Eleanor retired from the stage. August and Eleanor were married for over fourteen years until his death on 10 December 1924. Belmont died in her sleep in New York City on 24 October 1979. She was 99 years old.

References

External links

* * * *
Eleanor Robson Belmont Papers 1851–1979
via Columbia University {{DEFAULTSORT:Belmont, Eleanor Robson 1879 births 1979 deaths Actresses from Wigan English stage actresses English film actresses Belmont family 20th-century English actresses