&PARA PAR@ ` ╛TEXT ` ░Bingham, Amelia1869╨1927actorBorn in Hicksville, Ohio, on March 20, 1869, Amelia Smiley left Ohio Wesleyan University in 1890 when her performance in a summer amateur theatrical production attracted the notice of Lloyd Bingham, manager of a traveling professional company, who encouraged her to go on the stage. She made a Pacific Coast tour with the McKee Rankin company and in December 1893 made her New York debut at the People╒s Theatre in The Struggle for Life. By that time she had married Bingham. Subsequent appearances in The Power of Gold, The Shaughraun, The Colleen Bawn, The Village Postmaster, Captain Impudence, and others brought her great popularity, and in 1897, after winning a newspaper popularity poll over such stars as Lillian Russell, Ada Rehan, Fanny Davenport, and Maude Adams, she came under the management of Charles Frohman. For four years she was Frohman╒s leading lady in such productions as The White Heather, The Pink Domino, The Proper Caper, On and Off, At the White Horse Tavern, The Cuckoo, His Excellency the Governor, and Hearts are Trumps. In 1900 she decided to become a producer. She took over the Bijou Theatre in New York City, assembled a cast, and in January 1901 opened in her own production of Clyde Fitch╒s Climbers. She was apparently the first American actress to succeed as a producer as well. The success of that venture was repeated with Lady Margaret in 1902, The Modern Magdalen in 1902, and The Frisky Mrs. Johnson in 1903. Subsequently she starred in Olympe, 1904, and Mlle. Marni, 1905, played with various stock companies, toured Great Britain in Big Moments from Great Plays in 1909, and at various times appeared in One of Our Girls, A Contented Woman, The Eternal City, A Modern Lady Godiva, My Wife╒s Husbands, and Her Other Self. In 1913╨1914 she starred with Douglas Fairbanks and William H. Crane in The New Henrietta. Following the death of her husband in 1915 (while he was among the party on the Henry Ford Peace Ship) and with her own health declining, she retired from the stage. She returned to appear in Trelawney of the Wells in 1925 and The Pearl of Great Price in 1926. Amelia Bingham died in New York City on September 1, 1927. ■styl ` L ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ ! !I ┴ !I ╓ !I !I + !I - !I ; !I = !I M !I O !I e !I g !I x !I φ !I ▐ ⁿ !I ■ !I ▐ !I !I ▐ !I !I ▐ ) !I ú !I ┤ !I ╢ !I ┼ !I ╟ !I ╫ !I ┘ !I π !I σ !I ■ !I !I
