Minnie Dupree (January 19, 1875 – May 23, 1947) was an American stage, film, and radio actress. During the Great Depression, she helped organize the Stage Relief Fund to assist unemployed actors and actresses.
Minnie Dupree | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) | |
| Born | January 19, 1875[1][2][3][4][5] |
| Died | May 23, 1947 (aged 72) [5][10] New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1887—1947 |
Biography
editBorn in San Francisco, California, Dupree made her acting debut in a touring company under John A. Stevens in 1887.[11][12] The next year, she made a big impression in a small role in William Gillette's New York play Held by the Enemy.[11][13] She received a number of important supporting roles, working with Richard Mansfield, Stuart Robson, and Nat Goodwin.[13] She landed a starring role in 1900 in Women and Wine.[11] Other leading roles followed, including in The Climbers (1901), A Rose o' Plymouth-town (1902), Heidelberg (1902), The Music Master (1904), and The Road to Yesterday (1906).[citation needed]
Her later stage career was not successful, and exceptions were The Old Soak (1922), The Shame Woman (1923), Outward Bound (1924), playing Mrs. Midge, and as a replacement for the part of Martha Brewster in the hit Arsenic and Old Lace in 1941. Her last stage appearance was in Land's End (1946). She acted in two feature-length films: The Young in Heart (1938), with Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke, and Anne of Windy Poplars (1940).[14]
Personal life
editOn November 8, 1896, it was announced that she would marry Major William H. Langley, a reputed millionaire, at the end of the season. At the time, she was described as a "handsome blonde, and the possessor of a magnificent head of curly hair."[13]
Dupree died in New York City on May 23, 1947, at age 72.
References
edit- ^ LOC Name Authority File: Minnie Dupree, 1875-1947. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ "1918 Passport Application, Minnie Dupree". Family Search. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ a b Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John Arthur; Sherwood, Garrison P.; Kronenberger, Louis; editors (1922). The Best Plays of 1921-22 and the Yearbook of the Drama in America. Boston: Small, Maynard & Company. p. 563. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ "Boy Actor With Tracy in Second Film; Veteran in Orpheum Film".The Montreal Gazette. November 12, 1938. Retrieved 2015-07-05. "Born in 1875, Minnie Dupree was on the stage before she was 12."
- ^ a b "Minnie Dupree, '90's Star Ingenue, Dies".Billboard. May 31, 1947. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ Hines, Dixie; Hanaford, Harry Prescott, editors (1914). Who's Who in the Theatre. New York: H. P. Hanaford. p. 104. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ "New York City Municipal Deaths". Family Search. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
- ^ Prior, Thomas M. "In the Camera's Eye".The New York Times. August 21, 1938. Retrieved via Proquest 2015-07-04. "Hollywood and the generally reliable "Who's Who in the Theatre" say she was born in San Francisco in 1875. Miss Dupree, who really ought to know, stoutly claims the date of her birth to be 1882 and directs all Missourians to the registrar of La Crosse, Wis., where she says the even took place."
- ^ Boudreau, Richard (2013). "National Attention: Local Connection — La Crosse’s contributions to the Arts and Entertainment in America". La Crosse History Unbound. Retrieved 2015-07-05."Minnie Dupree, actress, always gave her birthplace as La Crosse, yet there seems no evidence in the records about her birth. When she was in La Crosse in 1908, acting in a traveling Broadway production, she was written up specially in the Tribune, yet no mention was made of a La Crosse tie."
- ^ Parker, John, editor (1916; digitized 2010). Who's Who in the Theatre. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons. p. 1559. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ^ a b c "American Theater Guide: Minnie Dupree". Answers.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2010. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ^ "Minnie Dupree". California Revealed. Archived from the original on February 23, 2024. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Minnie Dupree to Marry" (PDF). New York Times. November 8, 1896. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ^ "Minnie Dupree: Broadway star for half a century, buried at St. Paul's (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on February 23, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
Further reading
editArticles
edit- Arthur, Helen. "Beauties of the American Stage". National Magazine. December 1904. p. 328 (image), p. 329 (article).
- "Minnie Dupree an Advocate of Woman Suffrage".The Providence Evening News. October 15, 1914.
- "Stage Women's War Relief Makes Its First Shipment: First Box of Surgical Dressings Packed Under Supervision of Minnie Dupree". Billboard. May 5, 1917. p. 16
- Parsons, Louella. "'Over the Hill,' Old Melodrama, May Be Remade; Minnie Dupree Picked for Aged Mother". The Milwaukee Sentinel. November 29, 1938.
- "Portrait of Actress Brought from Frat". The Lawrence Journal-World. May 11, 1940.
- Winchell, Walter. "The Star's Dressing Room". The Daytona Beach Morning Journal. February 7, 1947.
- "Minnie Dupree Dies; Stage, Film Actress". The Montreal Gazette. May 24, 1947.
Books
edit- Briscoe, Johnson (1907). "January 19: Minnie Dupree". The Actor's Birthday Book: An Authoritative Insight Into the Lives of the Men and Women of the Stage Born Between January 1 and December 31. New York: Moffat, Yard & Company. p. 30.
- Browne, Walter; Koch, E. De Roy, editors (1908). Whos Who On the Stage, 1908. New York: B. Dodge & Company. p. 141.
- Hines, Dixie; Hanaford, Harry Prescott, editors (1914). Who's Who in Music and Drama. New York: H. P. Hanaford. p. 104.
- Parker, John, editor (1922). Who's Who in the Theatre. Boston: Small,Maynard & Company. p. 247.
External links
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