Viola Allen

Allen was born in Huntsville, Alabama, on October 27, 1867, (some sources say 1869),{{Citation needed |date=March 2022}} the daughter of actors Charles Leslie Allen and Sarah Jane Lyon.Browne, Walter and Fredrick Arnold Austin (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=xIoXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA15 "Who's Who on the Stage: The Dramatic Reference Book and Biographical Dictionary of the Theatre, Vol. 1"], W. Browne & F. A. Austin, (1906), p. 15, accessed June 18, 2013[http://www.buffalolib.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Rare%20Book%20Room/FindingAids/PN2220.A45.htm "Biographical History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118045128/http://www.buffalolib.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Rare%20Book%20Room/FindingAids/PN2220.A45.htm |date=November 18, 2017 }}, Finding Aid for the Charles Leslie Allen Playbook Collection, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, accessed October 8, 2014 She moved to Boston at three years of age and later moved with her family to Toronto. She was educated at the Bishop Strachan School, her brothers being educated at Trinity College School, Port Hope, Ontario.{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/10 10]}} She then attended a boarding school in New York City, Miss Cornell's School for Girls.

File:Viola Allen.jpg

Allen had her first stage appearance at the age of 14 at Madison Square Theatre in New York on July 4, 1882. Annie Russell, who was playing the title role in Esmeralda, took ill at one point during the long run. Allen's father was a member of the cast, and the theater's stage manager asked if Mr. Allen would allow his daughter to play the part.[http://www.josephhaworth.com/viola_allan.htm "Viola Allen], The Life and Times of Joseph Haworth, accessed November 28, 2012 Allen's debut attracted the attention of actor John McCullough, who made her his leading lady in 1883.{{cite book|title=The American Stage of Today|last=Eaton|first=Walter Prichard|year=1910|publisher=P.F. Collier & Son|location=New York, NY}}

Between the years of 1884 and 1886, she performed in a variety of modern and Shakespearean plays. She performed with the best-known 19th century actors including: Tommaso Salvini, Lawrence Barrett, Joseph Jefferson, and William J. Florence. She is best remembered for her roles in Shenandoah (by Bronson Howard) and Little Lord Fauntleroy (by Frances Eliza Burnett).{{citation needed|date=April 2010}} From 1885 to 1916, Allen starred in over two dozen Broadway productions, creating characters in many original plays. She played classical Shakesperean and comedy roles with Salvini, Lawrence Jarrett, Joseph Jefferson and V. J. Florence. In 1898, she created the character of Glory Quayle in Hall Caine's The Christian. She acted in The Masqueraders, Under the Red Robe, The Christian,Clapp, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhoOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA63 pp. 63–65] In the Palace of the King (1900), Twelfth Night, A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, The Lady of Coventry (1911), and others. She played such roles as Virginia, Cordelia, Desdemona, Lydia Languish, Dolores, Julia and Roma.

File:Viola Allen Gravesite.JPG

File:Viola Allen in The Daughter of Heaven.jpg and Judith Gautier, performed in 1912 at the Century Theatre in New York City[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/10/13/100594334.html?pageNumber=17 "Loti-Gautier Play at Century Theatre"], The New York Times, October 13, 1912.]]

Allen starred in the 1915 silent film The White Sister along with Richard Travers. The film was produced by the Essanay Studios and was based on the 1909 play The White Sister that was a hit for Allen.{{citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Her last professional appearance was in 1918, at a benefit supporting war relief. She remained an active supporter of charitable and theatrical organizations.{{citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Allen married Peter Edward Cornell Duryea on August 16, 1905, and they remained wed until his death in 1944.{{cite book |last1=James |first1=Edward T. |title=Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary |date=1971 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-62734-5 |page=38 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVLOhGt1BX0C&dq=%22Viola+Allen%22+actress&pg=PA38 |access-date=March 1, 2022 |language=en}}

Allen died in her home in New York City on May 9, 1948, aged 78. She is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York.{{cite news |title=Viola Allen rites at Little Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/05/13/archives/viola-allen-rites-at-little-church-notables-of-theatrical-world.html |access-date=March 1, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=May 13, 1948 |page=26|url-access=subscription}}

• Getting Evidence (1907) short
• The Scales of Justice (1914)
• The White Sister (1915)
• Open Your Eyes (1919)

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book|title=Plays of the Present|year=1902|author1=Clapp, John Bouvé|author2=Edgett, Edwin Francis|location=NY|publisher=The Dunlap Society|url=https://archive.org/details/playspresent00edgegoog}}
• L. C. Strang, Famous Actresses of the Day in America, (Boston, 1899)

{{commons category|Viola Allen}}

• {{IMDb name|0021142}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{IMSLP|id=Viola, Allen}}
• [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=viola+allen Viola Allen], portrait gallery at New York Public Library

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Viola}}

Category:1860s births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:Actresses from New York City

Category:American child actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:Actresses from Huntsville, Alabama

Category:Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Category:19th-century American actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Bishop Strachan School alumni