Mary Anderson (July 28 1859 - May 29 1940) was an American stage actress.

She was born in Sacramento, California, the daughter of an officer in the Confederate States Army who died in the American Civil War when she was a small child.

At a young age Mary Anderson developed an interest in theater and began taking acting lessons by the time she was thirteen. An extremely beautiful girl, in 1875 she made her first appearance on stage at a theater in Louisville, Kentucky in the role of Shakespeare's "Juliette." From there she went on to star in a variety of roles at major playhouses across America.

In 1883 she debuted on the London stage at the Lyceum Theatre, remaining there for the ensuing six years to perform to much acclaim including at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon. In 1888 she returned home to perform in New York City but soon thereafter suffered from nervous exhaustion to such a point that she chose to completely give up her stage career. (Although, during World War one she did a few performances in the Vale of Evesham area for fund-raising for the War effort)

Anderson went back to England in 1889 where the following year she married Antonio de Navarro. In 1896, she published her autobiography, A Few Memories. Thirty years later there was still much public interest in her life and she wrote a second story titled A Few More Memories.

Mary Anderson passed away in 1940 at her home, Court Farm, in Broadway, Worcestershire.

Links

• Project Gutenberg etext: Mary Anderson by J. M. Farrar (1885)