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Minnie
Maddern Fiske
(1864-1932)



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"The
essence of acting is the conveyance of
truth through the medium of the
actor's mind and person. The science
of acting deals with the perfecting of
that medium."
Minnie
Maddern Fiske |

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Fiske,
Minnie Maddern (nėe
Marie Augusta Davey) (1864-1932)
American actress, playwright and
director. She was born in New Orleans
into a theatrical family. Her father
was Thomas Davey, manager of the St.
Charles Theatre in that city and her
mother was Lizzie Maddern, an actress.
She began her stage career at the age
of three. As a child actress she was
in much demand, and played under her
mother’s name as
"Little Minnie
Maddern". She made her New York
debut on May 30, 1870 in A Sheep in
Wolf’s Clothing and played
several roles in other productions
including Little Eva in Uncle Tom’s
Cabin. Nearly a decade of touring
followed in which she played among
other parts Prince Arthur in John
McCullough’s production of King
John. By 1882 at age 18 when she
returned to New York in Charles
Callahan’s Fogg’s Ferry,
she was universally applauded as an
ingenue. In 1890 after a brief
unsuccessful marriage, she married her
second husband the drama critic,
producer, manager and playwright
Harrison Grey Fiske who was at the
time the editor of the New York
Dramatic Mirror. After her
marriage she retired from the stage
for four years and it was during this
interlude that she wrote several
one-act plays one of which Countess
Roudine was later mounted by
Modjeska. By 1893 the lure of the
footlights proved too great and she
returned to the stage in her husband’s
Hester Crewe, an Ibsen-like
play that was a quick failure. Mrs.
Fiske’s era was one of great change
and she contributed greatly to this.
The emotionally charged melodramas and
fluffy social comedies were replaced
with psychological drama, gaslights
gave way to electricity and Realism
replaced Romanticism in set and
costume design. She focused her energy
on what she called "natural, true
acting" and was responsible for
bringing the plays of several European
playwrights including Ibsen &
Strindberg to American audiences. At
the turn of the century she was
influential in combating the
destructive monopoly of the Theatrical
Syndicate and became a noted
humanitarian, fighting against cruelty
to animals. She distained the "star"system
and insisted on careful casting to
form the perfect ensemble where every
member of the company took
responsibility for the unified whole
of the production. Her greatest
successes during this period were Nora
in A Doll’s House, Tess of the D’Ubervilles
, Langdon Mitchell’s Becky Sharp
and in 1903 Hedda Gabler
in the Fiske’s newly
bought & renovated Manhattan
Theatre.
Unfortunately the cost of maintaining
the Manhattan proved too much and they
lost the house. Over the next several
years Mrs. Fiske appeared in a series
of weak plays, but had a renaissance
towards the end of her career when she
appeared in several superb revivals
including Mrs. Malaprop in The
Rivals (1925), Mrs. Alving in Ghosts
(1927) and Mistress Page in The
Merry Wives of Windsor (1928). Her
last appearance was as Mrs. Tyler in It’s
A Grand Life (1930). |

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(click
on photo to enlarge) |

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as a
precocious child actress |
as
Hedda Gabler |
"Ghosts"
Poster |
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from
studio composite |
Postcard |
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as
Becky Sharp |
Picture
Book of Becky Sharp |
as
Becky Sharp |
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with
Maurice Barrymore in Becky Sharp
(1899) |
Poster
for Becky Sharp |
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in
Tess of the D'Ubervilles (1897) |
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with
James Coghlan in Tess of the
D'Ubervilles |

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