Isabel Irving
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2022}}
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image = Isabel Irving 001.jpg
| caption = Isabel Irving, ca. 1907
| birth_date = {{birth date|1871|2|28}}
| birth_place = Bridgeport, Connecticut
| death_date = {{dda|1944|9|1|1871|2|28}}
| death_place = Nantucket, Massachusetts
| yearsactive = 1887–1936
| spouse = William H. Thompson (1899 – 1923)
}}
Isabel Irving (February 28, 1871 –September 1, 1944) was an American stage actress.
Irving made her London debut at the Lyceum Theatre in 1890 as Daisy in Nancy and Company.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=ISABEL IRVIN6, 3, ACTRESS 50 Years; Star in Companies of Vokes, Daly and Frohman Dies-Played Opposite Drew|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/02/88608574.html?pageNumber=11|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-21|website=timesmachine.nytimes.com|language=en}}
In 1894, she signed a three-year contract with the manager of the Lyceum Theatre in New York, stipulating "for the first time in her short career on stage," that she shall have "leading business."{{Cite web|title=ISABEL IRVING'S PLANS.; The Young Actress to be a Member of Mr. Frohman's Company.|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/03/24/106900790.html?pageNumber=5|access-date=2019-11-21|website=timesmachine.nytimes.com|language=en}} Until that time she had played the ingenue and other small parts.
Life
Isabel Irving was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 28, 1871 to Charles Washington and Isabella Irving.Leonard, John William (1914). [https://books.google.com/books?id=34hmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA423 Woman's Who's Who of America: a Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, American Commonwealth Company, pg. 423.] {{ISBN|0810340186}} She made her New York stage debut in c. 1886{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/02/88608574.html?pageNumber=11|title=ISABEL IRVIN6, 3, ACTRESS 50 Years; Star in Companies of Vokes, Daly and Frohman Dies-Played Opposite Drew|last=|first=|date=|website=timesmachine.nytimes.com|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-21}}{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/10/20/100456475.html?pageNumber=7|title=MISS ISABEL IRVING WEDS.; Ceremony performed in New Jersey Unltes the Actress to Thompson, the Actor.|last=|first=|date=|website=timesmachine.nytimes.com|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-21}} at the Standard Theatre in The Schoolmistress under Rosina Vokes.{{Cite web|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/03/24/106900790.html?pageNumber=5|title=ISABEL IRVING'S PLANS.; The Young Actress to be a Member of Mr. Frohman's Company.|website=timesmachine.nytimes.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-21}}
In 1899, after a secret engagement, Irving married the actor William H. Thompson who died in 1923.
File:Isabel_Irving_(SAYRE_11643).jpg
In 1907, an Oregon newspaper (The Morning Oregonian) called her a "brilliant American actress" and "a charming actress and comedienne" during her national tour performance there in Susan In Search of a Husband.{{Cite journal|last=Library|first=University of Oregon, Knight|date=1907-02-01|title=Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, February 01, 1907, Image 14|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1907-02-01/ed-1/seq-14/|issue=1907/02/01|pages=14}}{{Cite journal|last=Library|first=University of Oregon, Knight|date=1907-02-02|title=Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, February 02, 1907, Image 14|url=https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83025138/1907-02-02/ed-1/seq-14/|issue=1907/02/02|pages=14}}
She retired from her long career in theater in 1936 after completing her final tour in Three Wise Fools. She died in 1944 in Nantucket at 73.
Selected appearances
File:Isabel_Irving_(SAYRE_11111).jpg
Irving appeared in numerous productions during her 50-year career.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_34hmAAAAMAAJ|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_34hmAAAAMAAJ/page/n408 423]|title=Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada|date=1914|publisher=American Commonwealth Company|isbn=978-0-8103-4018-3|language=en}}
- The Schoolmistress (as Gwendoline)
- Pantomime Rehearsal
- Nancy and Company (as Daisy)
- Gwynee's Oath (as the ingenue)
- Popping the Question (as the waiting maid)
- The Great Unknown (as Pansy)
- As You Like It (as Audrey)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (as Oberon)
- The Hunchback (as Helen)
- The Last Word (as Miss Rutherell)
- The Arabian Nights (as Maitland)
- Needles and Pins
- The Critic
- The Lottery of Love
- The Cabinet Minister
- She Stoops to Conquer
- Merry Wives of Windsor
- The Age of Innocence
- Uncle Vanya
- Three Wise Fools
Gallery
{{Gallery
| title = Photographs of Isabel Irving
| align =
| footer =
| style =
| state =
| height =
| width = 20cm
| captionstyle =
| File: Isabel Irving, stage actress (SAYRE 4648).jpg
| 1907 photograph
| alt1=
| File: Portrait of Isabel Irving.jpg
| Photograph, ca. 1890/ca. 1900
| alt2=
| File: Isabel Irving, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 8) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes MET DP831685.jpg
| Photograph, ca. 1888
| alt3=
| File: Isabel Irving, stage actress (SAYRE 4384).jpg
| 1913 photograph
| alt4=
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=isabel+irving Isabel Irving] photo gallery at the [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/ NYP Library]
- [http://www.nha.org/digitalexhibits/sconset02564/timeline/actorscolony.html Actors Colony of Siasconset] from the Nantucket Historical Association Digital Exhibition 'Sconset 02564
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Isabel}}
Category:Actresses from Bridgeport, Connecticut
Category:19th-century American actresses