Genevieve Hamper
{{Short description|American stage and screen actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Genevieve Hamper
| image = Stage actress Genevieve Hamper (SAYRE 3136).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Hamper in 1916
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1888|9|8}}
| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1971|2|13|1888|9|8}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| restingplace =
| othername =
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive =
| spouse = Robert B. Mantell (1912-1928; his death)
John Alexander (1928-1971){{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/20/archives/genevieve-hamper-stage-actress-82.html|title = Genevieve Hamper, Stage Actress, 82|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 20 February 1971}}
| children = 1
}}
File:Signed drawing of Genevieve Hamper by Manuel Rosenberg for the Cincinnati Post 1919.jpg for the Cincinnati Post 1919]]
Genevieve Hamper (September 8, 1888 – February 13, 1971){{Citation needed |date=July 2021}} was an American stage and screen actress.
Biography
Hamper began performing Shakespeare as a teenager. She often appeared in early silent films{{Citation needed |date=February 2022}} and on stage with her much older first husband Robert B. Mantell. They headed the Robert Mantell-Genevieve Hamper Shakespearean Repertoire Company,{{cite news |last1=Caldwell |first1=Lily May |title=Genevieve Hamper, great lady of theater, is in town this week |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94799441/genevieve-hamper/ |access-date=February 12, 2022 |work=The Birmingham News |date=February 14, 1956 |page=6|via = Newspapers.com}} and they had a son, Robert B. Mantell Jr. After Mantell's death, in October 1928 she married actor John Alexander, and she retired from the stage. He died in 1982.Silent Film Necrology p.225 2ndEdition c.2001 by Eugene M. VazzanaWho Was Who on Screen, p.196 2ndEdition c.1977 by Evelyn Mack Truitt
Hamper worked for the Fox Film Corporation, including portraying Claire in The Green-Eyed Monster (1916).{{cite news |title=Princess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94800167/genevieve-hamper/ |access-date=February 12, 2022 |work=Natchez Democrat |date=May 26, 1916 |page=2|via = Newspapers.com}}
In 1929, Hamper directed her own Shakespearean company that presented plays in venues including the Metropolitan Theater in Minneapolis. She rehearsed actors at Woodcrest, her country estate in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. Her directing approach included reducing or eliminating "the ranting and sonorous mouthing treatment of characters" while still delivering the essence of each play to the audience.{{cite news |title='Natural Method' in Producing Plays Revives Interest in Shakespeare |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94800740/genevieve-hamper/ |access-date=February 12, 2022 |work=The Minneapolis Star |date=October 19, 1929 |page=34|via = Newspapers.com}} She felt that the calmer approach would be favored by audiences that had become accustomed to films.
Hamper died at the Sanger Nursing Home in New York City in 1971, aged 82.{{cite news |title=Genevieve Hamper, Stage Actress, 82 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/20/archives/genevieve-hamper-stage-actress-82.html |access-date=February 12, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=February 20, 1971 |page=30|url-access=subscription}}
Selected filmography
- The Blindness of Devotion (1915)
- The Green-Eyed Monster (1916)
- A Wife's Sacrifice (1916)
- Tangled Lives (1917)
- Under the Red Robe (1923)
References
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External links
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Category:Actresses from Detroit
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:20th-century American actresses
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