Born on June 17, 1882, in Dorchester (now part of Boston), Massachusetts, Chrystal Herne was a daughter of the well known actor and playwright James A. Herne and of Katharine Corcoran Herne, an actress of note. She received little formal schooling but grew up in an intellectually stimulating atmosphere. She made her stage debut in her father╒s The Reverend Griffith Davenport at the Lafayette Square Theatre, Washington, D.C., in January 1899, and her New York debut followed two weeks later in the same play. In October 1899 she appeared in the opening of her father╒s Sag Harbor in Boston and continued in the production in New York from September 1900 with Lionel Barrymore in the cast. She appeared in E. H. Sothern╒s production of Hamlet in 1902 and in If I Were King in 1903, and she performed her first leading role in Clyde Fitch╒s Major AndrÄ in November 1903.
During 1905╨1906 Herne played opposite Arnold Daly in a notable series of George Bernard Shaw productions: Candida, You Never Can Tell, John Bull╒s Other Island, and Mrs. Warren╒s Profession. She made her London debut in 1906 in The Jury of Fate, and later in the year appeared again with Daly in Arms and the Man. She subsequently appeared in Genessee of the Hills, 1907, Israel Zangwill╒s The Melting Pot, 1909, Augustus Thomas╒s As a Man Thinks, 1911, At Bay, 1913, Polygamy, 1914, Somerset Maugham╒s Our Betters, 1917, The Riddle: Woman, 1918, The Acquittal, 1920, The Elton Case, 1921, Roseanna, 1923, and Rachel Crothers╒s Expressing Willie, 1924.
Herne made her closest approach to stardom in George Kelly╒s Pulitzer Prize winning Craig╒s Wife, 1925. Her later and without exception less satisfactory plays included Skin Deep, 1927, The Grey Fox, 1928, The Forcing Bed, 1929, Mayfair, 1930, Ladies of Creation, 1931, and A Room in Red and White, in which she gave her last performance in January 1936. Neither a great beauty nor a practitioner of the grand manner, Chrystal Herne based her career on her ability to portray with fine feeling women of intelligence and sophistication. She died in Boston on September 19, 1950.
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