┐Morris, Clara1847?╨1925actor and writerBorn in Toronto on March 17, probably in 1847 (some sources give 1846 or 1848), Clara Morris was the eldest child of a bigamous marriage. When she was three her father, whose name was La Montagne, was exposed, and her mother fled with her to Cleveland, where they adopted her grandmother╒s name, Morrison. Young Clara received only scanty schooling. About 1860 she became a ballet girl in the resident company of the Cleveland Academy of Music, shortening her name to Morris at that time. After nine years of training with that company she played a season as leading lady at Wood╒s Theatre, Cincinnati, in 1869. She then appeared in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a summer and with Joseph Jefferson in Louisville before going to New York City in 1870. Morris made her New York debut in September in Man and Wife, directed by Augustin Daly at his Fifth Avenue Theatre. The role had come to her by chance, but she made such an impression in it that Daly starred her in a series of highly emotional roles over the next three years in such plays as No Name, Delmonico╒s, L╒Article 47, Alixe, Jezebel, and Madeleine Morel. She left Daly in 1873 and in November of that year starred under A. M. Palmer╒s management in The Wicked World at the Union Square Theatre. Over the next few years she had great successes in Camille in 1874, The New Leah in 1875, Miss Multon (an American version of a French version of East Lynne), her most popular role, in 1876, Jane Eyre in 1877, and The New Magdalen in 1882. She also toured extensively, especially in the 1880s, and everywhere mesmerized audiences with her emotional power. Although neither a great beauty nor a great artist, nor trained in elocution or stagecraft, she had an instinctive genius for portraying the impassioned and often suffering heroines of French melodrama. The passing of the vogue for that sort of theater, together with her uncertain health, brought her career to a close in the 1890s. In retirement in Riverdale, New York, Morris contributed articles on acting to various magazines, wrote a daily newspaper column for ten years, and published several books, including A Silent Singer, stories, 1899, Little Jim Crow, and Other Stories for Children, 1900, Life on the Stage: My Personal Experiences and Recollections, 1901, Stage Confidences, reminiscences, 1902, A Pasteboard Crown, 1902, The Trouble Woman, 1904, The Life of a Star, more reminiscences, 1906, Left in Charge, 1907, New East Lynne, 1908, A Strange Surprise, 1910, and Dressing-Room Receptions, 1911. In 1904 she returned to the stage in a revival of The Two Orphans, and she later appeared in vaudeville. She died in New Canaan, Connecticut, on November 20, 1925. ╛styl ` < ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ + !I 5¬ !I M !I Y !I D !I K !I M !I X !I Z !I f !I h !I m !I o !I v !I | !I ï !I ∞ !I ⁿ !I N !I U !I _ !I k !I u !I Ç !I ¡ !I ╖ !I ┌ !I π !I ± !I !I ╥ 5¬ ╙ !I è !I Ö !I ¬ !I ┘ !I ß !I !I & !I 7 !I N !I ` !I h !I y !I ü !I ô !I » !I ╜ !I ┼ !I ╙ !I █ !I φ !I ∙ !I
