MARLOWE JULIA -SHAKESPEARIAN PLAY ACTRESS BORN 1866 AUGUST 17

MARLOWE JULIA -SHAKESPEARIAN PLAY ACTRESS BORN 1866 AUGUST 17

BIRTH AND INITIAL LIFE

Marlowe, Julia [née Sarah Frances Frost] (1866-1950)

 This British-American actress was born on August 17th, near Keswick, Cumberland, England. 

When she was four years old, she was brought to Cincinnatti, Ohio, by her mother where they joined her father, who had been forced to flee England after injuring a neighbor in a whipping. 

In American the family changed the name to Brough, and it was as Fanny Brough that she made her stage debut in that city in 1879 in one of the many juvenile troupes of H.M.S. Pinafore that were the rage of the day. 

She continued to sing in comic opera for several seasons before playing Heinrich in a touring company of Rip Van Winkle in 1882. 

She was tutored in the classic repertory by Ada Dow, a retired actress. In 1884, Miss Dow brought Julia to New York, where she secured touring engagements for her in roles such as Lady Teazle and Miss Hardcastle, and later in 1896 as Lydia Languish with Joseph Jefferson and Mrs. John Drew in a  production of The Rivals. 

STAGE ACTRESS

She made her New York debut as Parthenia in Ingomar in 1887.  In December of the same year, 

she performed in 
Romeo and Juliet, 
Twelfth Night, and 
Ingomar at the Star Theatre with Joseph Haworth as her leading man, and grew rapidly in the public esteem.









Over the next several seasons she offered her Viola, Rosalind, and Julia in The Hunchback. For several years, she played Shakespeare heroines opposite her first husband Richard Taber. 


Following their separation in 1899 she had a New York triumph with the title role in Barbara Frietchie. This was followed by her portrayal in 1901 of Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, in When Knighthood Was in Flower, directing the production when it went on tour. 

Both of these roles were at the behest of the Theatrical Syndicate to gain her a larger following and to recoop the losses her Shakespeaean tours had incurred.  

 Most of her later career was in Shakespearean roles co-starring with her second husband, E.H. Sothern. 

Illness forced a temporary retirement in 1915, and when she was hurt in an accident in 1924, she retired permanently . She died in New York City on November 12, 1950 at the age of 84.