Susan Webb Cushman (March 17, 1822 – May 10, 1859) was a Boston, Massachusetts-born American actress, the younger sister of established actress

Charlotte Cushman Charlotte Saunders Cushman (July 23, 1816 – February 18, 1876) was an American stage actress. Her voice was noted for its full contralto register, and she was able to play both male and female parts. She lived intermittently in Rome, in an expa ...

. Susan Cushman débuted in Epes Sargent's play, ''The Genoese'' in 1836, a year after a trip with her mother to see Charlotte, an up-and-coming actress, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Ci ...

American career

Following a failed marriage that same year to Nelson Meriman, after which he left her destitute with a child, she followed Charlotte's advice to pursue an acting career with her. Together they acted in

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, circa 1841–1842, as Grace Harkaway (Susan) and Lady Gay Spanker (Charlotte). She received acclaim in the play ''Satan in Paris'' and played

Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...

George Vandenhoff George Vandenhoff (18 February 1820 - 15 June 1885) was an English actor and elocutionist who performed in Britain and the United States. Life Vandenhoff was born in 1820 in England, a son of Elizabeth (born Pike) and the notable English actor ...

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

. In 1842 Susan was a member and Charlotte a stage manager of the

Walnut Street Theatre The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnut ...

in Philadelphia, where Vandenhoff performed for six nights for $180. Vandenhoff later acknowledged both Charlotte's and Susan's cool-headedness in his autobiographical book entitled ''Leaves from an Actor's Notebook''. In it he wrote that Susan was "a pretty creature, but had not a spark of Charlotte's genius..." and that "she pleased 'the fellows', however, and was the best walking-lady on the American stage".

Migration to England

Susan followed Charlotte to England in 1845. On December 30, 1845, at the Haymarket in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, they were so successful in playing

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

, respectively, (using the original version as opposed to theatre prompt) before an audience who labeled them as "American Indians", that they continued there for eighty nights before touring England. Although Charlotte, who enjoyed playing masculine roles, was a good showman and received acclaim from critics, they also praised Susan for the "grace and delicacy of her acting". Sheridan Knowles commended Charlotte primarily, but, in regards to Susan, lauded the first act as being "admirably personated by her beautiful sister". The sisters played together in ''Twelfth Night''. In 1848 Susan enraged a theatre manager during the rehearsal presentations for ''The Lady of Lyons'' in which she was to play the part of "Helen" to Mrs.

Anna Cora Mowatt Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie (, Ogden; after first marriage, Mowatt; after second marriage, Ritchie; pseudonyms, Isabel, Henry C. Browning, and Helen Berkley; March 5, 1819July 21, 1870) was a French-born American author, playwright, public reader, ...

's undisclosed part. When Susan walked in late during the manager's audition of a replacement actress, an angry scene developed which, by Mrs. Mowatt's account, was "such as I never before, and I rejoice to say never after, witnessed in a theatre". Susan was forced to leave.

Marriage and death

Later in 1848, Susan married James Sheridan Muspratt, and retired from the stage, living in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

until her death in 1859, aged 37. The couple had three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cushman, Susan Webb 1822 births 1859 deaths American expatriates in the United Kingdom Actresses from Boston 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 19th-century British actresses British stage actresses Muspratt family