Born on November 11, 1872, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden began her theatrical career at the age of nine months, when she was carried on stage by her mother in a production of The Lost Child. She began playing actual roles as soon as she could talk, adopting her actress mother╒s maiden name (Adams) for the stage. At five she attracted considerable attention in San Francisco in Fritz, and at sixteen she joined Edward H. Sothern╒s company in New York City, making her debut in that city in The Paymaster in September 1888. Soon after her appearance in A Midnight Bell, 1889, she moved to Charles Frohman╒s company where, from 1892 to 1897, she regularly played opposite John Drew in such pieces as Clyde Fitch╒s Masked Ball and Rosemary. She first won top billing as Lady Babble in James M. Barrie╒s The Little Minister in 1897. Although she played a wide range of roles, including several of Shakespeare╒s great heroines, it was her portrayals of Barrie characters that brought her acclaim and the lasting devotion of audiences. Her greatest successes were in Quality Street, in 1902 and again in 1915╨1916, What Every Woman Knows, 1908╨1909, A Kiss for Cinderella, 1916╨1918, and especially Peter Pan, in which she starred in more than 1500 performances in 1905╨1907, 1913, and 1918. Other plays in which she appeared included Romeo and Juliet, 1899, Edmond Rostand╒s L╒Aiglon, 1900╨1901, Schiller╒s Joan of Arc (Die Jungfrau von Orleans), 1909, and Chantecler, 1910╨1911.
In 1918, though still a dazzling beauty, she retired from the stage and for a time worked with Charles P. Steinmetz on improving stage lighting. In 1931 she played opposite Otis Skinner in The Merchant of Venice and in 1934 made her last appearance, in Twelfth Night. From 1937 to 1943 she was chairman of the drama department of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. She had always kept her private life from public view, and she lived quietly in retirement until her death in Tannersville, New York, on July 17, 1953.
▐styl ` $ ! ¬
5¬ 5¬ !I Σ !I ≥ !I " !I / !I a !I p !I !I !I Z !I m !I a !I o !I æ !I º !I ┤ !I ╔ !I σ !I ε !I n !I ~ !I ù !I ƒ !I ╖ !I ▌ !I Θ !I ≤ !I 5¬ !I ┴ !I ╫ !I !I !I link `
