Kitty Gordon

Constance Minnie Blades was born in Folkestone, Kent, to Col. Blades of the Royal Artillery.{{cite book|last=Metcalfe|first= Cranstoun|title=Peeresses of the Stage|location=London|publisher= A. Melrose|year= 1913|page=227|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015063548427&view=1up&seq=277}}{{cite book |last1=Gänzl |first1=Kurt |title=The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre |date=2001 |publisher=Schirmer Books |location=New York |isbn=9780028649702 |page=792 |edition=2nd}} Her first professional stage appearance was at the Princes Theatre in Bristol in 1901 in the touring production of San Toy.{{cite web |last1=Gillan |first1=Don |title=Kitty Gordon (1878-1974) |url=http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/gordon/gordon-k2.html |website=www.stagebeauty.net}} She appeared in The Duchess of Dantzic in 1903, the operetta Véronique in 1904 and The Three Kisses in 1907. In 1909 she moved to New York City, where she became a regular on the New York stage.

On 19 October 1911, Gordon starred in the premiere of composer Victor Herbert's operetta The Enchantress at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/10/10/archives/the-enchantress-staged-kitty-gordon-appears-in-title-role-of-victor.html|title=The Enchantress Staged; Kitty Gordon Appears in Title Role of Victor Herbert's Opera Comique|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 10, 1911|page=13}} Herbert wrote the title role specifically for her.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/29/archives/kitty-gordon-star-of-1911-enchantress-is-dead-actress-for-whom.html|title=Kitty Gordon, Star of 1911 Enchantress, Is Dead|date=May 29, 1974|page=44|work=The New York Times}} She remained with the production when it transferred to the New York Theatre on Broadway later that month{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/10/20/archives/music-that-charms-by-victor-herbert-in-the-enchantress-which-raises.html?searchResultPosition=3|title=Music That Charms by Victor Herbert; in The Enchantress, Which Raises Kitty Gordon to the Stars|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 20, 1911|page=13}} and toured in the piece for two years,{{cite news|title=Kitty Gordon in "The Enchantress"|work=Los Angeles Morning Tribune|date= October 26, 1913|page=37}} until she fell ill.{{cite news|title=Kitty Gordon Illness Found to Be Serious|work=The San Francisco Call|date= November 1, 1913|page= 23}}

She made her first film appearance in 1916 in As in a Looking Glass. During the next three years she made twenty-one films. She continued her stage work from 1919 onwards. She also made television appearances. Her final appearance on television was in 1952 on the program Life Begins at Eighty.

Her first husband was Maxwell James with whom she had a child, Vera. She later also had a career as an actress known on the stage and in film as Vera Beresforf. After his death, she married theatre manager Michael Levenston on 10 December 1903. He died on 29 March 1904 , and in October 1904, Kitty married Captain Henry "Harry" Horsley-Beresford (1876– 1924), a son of the 3rd Baron Decies.The Times 29 January 1924. Kitty's child became Cynthia Vera Beresford, who became an actress. In 1932 Kitty married Ralph Ranlet.[http://www.cityfarmer.org/KittyGordonmarries1932.jpg Mrs. Beresford wed to Ralph Ranlet]. New York Times, 16 September 1932 Kitty's daughter Vera died in 1945.“Deaths.” The New York Times, 8 Oct. 1945, p. 15.

Kitty Gordon died in a nursing home in Brentwood, New York in 1974.“Kitty Gordon, Star of 1911 'Enchantress,' Is Dead.” The New York Times, 29 May 1974, p. 44.

The Crucial Test.jpg|The Crucial Test (1916)

'Vera the Medium'.jpg|Vera the Medium (1916)

Selznick Gordon.jpg|Advertisement (1916)

Mandarin's Gold.jpg|Mandarin's Gold (1919)

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{FAG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Kitty}}

Category:1878 births

Category:1974 deaths

Category:Burials at Kensico Cemetery

Category:English stage actresses

Category:English silent film actresses

Category:Actors from Folkestone

Category:English film actresses

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:Actresses from Kent

Category:English expatriate actresses in the United States