Frances Nordstrom

Born in Fort Davis, Texas, Nordstrom was the daughter of United States Cavalry Captain Charles E. Nordstrom. He had command of that fort, and she lived her first 16 years there.{{cite news |title=Daughter of Soldier Is New Leading Woman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26075850/frances_nordstrom/ |work=Pittsburgh Daily Post |date=July 5, 1914 |location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh |page=Second Section - 2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 8, 2018}} {{Open access}} She was the younger sister of actress Marie Nordstrom.{{cite news |title=Grand Leading Woman Is Writing New Novel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26074261/frances_nordstrom/ |work=Pittsburgh Daily Post |date=July 12, 1914 |location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh |page=18|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 8, 2018}} {{Open access}} After their father died, the sisters and their mother moved to Washington, where Nordstrom attended the Georgetown Convent school.

Nordstrom became interested in the theater when, as a youth, she and her sister attended a play in San Antonio, Texas. She told a reporter in 1908, "... our youthful minds were entranced, whereupon we each resolved that when we grew to womanhood we were going to be actresses."{{cite news |title=How Two Sisters Took to Life on the Stage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26119317/the_pittsburgh_press/ |work=The Pittsburgh Press |date=January 26, 1908 |location=Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh |page=34|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 10, 2018}} {{Open access}} After they moved to Washington, both sisters attended more plays, which reinforced their interest in acting careers.

Nordstrom's early acting experiences included work with the Baldwin-Melville Stock Company in Buffalo, New York, in 1903.{{cite news |title=Teck Theater |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26101253/buffalo_courier/ |work=Buffalo Courier |date=May 3, 1903 |location=New York, Buffalo |page=34|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 9, 2018}} {{Open access}} Her work in stock theater led to a progression from character roles to portraying ingenues to being a leading woman. In 1904, she had to leave acting temporarily because of blood poisoning that developed from a severe burn.{{cite news |title=Personal Mention |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26114289/the_washington_post/ |work=The Washington Post |date=October 30, 1904 |location=D.C., Washington |page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 10, 2018}} {{Open access}} In 1909, Nordstrom joined Oliver Morosco's stock theater company in California.{{cite news |title=Morosco Gets New Players |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26121518/los_angeles_herald/ |work=Los Angeles Herald |date=November 12, 1909 |location=California, Los Angeles |page=10}} Her Broadway acting credits include Cheer Up (1912).{{cite web |title=Frances Nordstrom |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frances-nordstrom-5560 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=10 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210170802/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/frances-nordstrom-5560 |archive-date=10 December 2018}}

Nordstrom began writing prior to World War I.{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Dorothy |title=Dorothy Parker: Complete Broadway, 1918–1923 |date=2014 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=9781491722664 |page=439 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V26PAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Frances+Nordstrom%22&pg=PA439 |access-date=11 December 2018 |language=en}} After achieving success writing vaudeville sketches and one-act plays, she wrote Room 44, a three-act farce, and other plays. Her body of work led to a three-year contract with Cohan and Harris for all of the plays that she wrote during that period. At times, she acted in a play that she had written, as in a production of The Ruined Lady in 1920.{{cite news |title=In Her Own Play |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26075505/frances_nordstrom/ |work=Evening Public Ledger |date=May 8, 1920 |location=Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |page=12|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 8, 2018}} {{Open access}} Broadway productions for which Nordstrom wrote include Lady Bug (1922), Music Box Revue (1921), Snapshots of 1921, and The Ruined Lady (1920). Later, after moving to Los Angeles, she began to write for films.

On November 8, 1905, Nordstrom married actor James Carlisle Spottswood in New Orleans.{{cite news |title=A Comedian Marries |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26114624/the_timesdemocrat/ |work=The Times-Democrat |date=November 9, 1905 |location=Louisiana, New Orleans |page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 10, 2018}} {{Open access}}

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Category:1883 births

Category:American stage actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:Actresses from Texas

Category:Year of death missing