Leona Stephens (c. 1884 – July 22, 1982,

Bogota, New Jersey Bogota is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,778, an increase of 591 (+7.2%) from the 2010 United Sta ...

), also known as Leona Hollister, Leona Stephens Hollister, Leona Hollister West, and Leona Stephens Hollister West, was an American

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performer,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, and

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

who had an active career on stage and radio during the first half of the 20th century.

Life and career

Born in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Stephens was one half of the vaudeville team Stephens & Hollister; the other half being her first husband, the actor and playwright Len D. Hollister (1884-1936). The duo toured in the major vaudeville circuits during the first two decades of the 20th century, and in the 1930s and 1940s they had their own program on CBS Radio, ''The Hollisters''. Stephens also worked as an actress on

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 ...

, beginning with the role of Lottchen Spring in the Gustav Kerker and Roderic C. Penfield musical '' The White Hen'' at the Casino Theatre in 1907. Her other Broadway credits included Tillie Ticker in the musical ''Let George Do It'' (1912), Mrs. Schaeffer in the play ''The Come-On Man'' (1929), Lissa in the musical ''

Right This Way ''Right This Way'' is a Broadway production that opened at the 46th Street Theatre on January 5, 1938, and ran for fifteen performances. It was categorized as an original musical comedy and was set in Paris and Boston. It starred Joe E. Lewis a ...

'' (1938), and Greeny Gorman in the play '' Dark of the Moon'' (1945). As a playwright, only one of her plays was staged on Broadway, ''The Morning After'' (1925,

Hudson Theatre The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the ...

).Bordman, p. 263 In 1912 she toured nationally in the

Eddie Foy Edwin Fitzgerald (March 9, 1856 – February 16, 1928Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; and McNeilly, Donald. ''Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America''. Routledge Press, September 2006, . pp. 406–410), ...

musical ''Over the River''. After the death of her first husband and stage partner in 1936, Stephens continued to perform through the 1940s. She was also active as a songwriter during this period, and several of her songs were published. Leona Stephens Hollister West died on July 22, 1982, in

at the age of 98. The Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library holds the "Leona Stephens papers 1878-1952"; a collection of personal documents, letters, photographs, sheet music, and other artifacts which document her career.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Leona 1880s births 1982 deaths Actresses from Ohio American stage actresses American musical theatre actresses American radio actresses American women dramatists and playwrights American vaudeville performers