Brown-Potter, Mrs. James
[neé Cora Urquhart]
The daughter of a wealthy
New Orleans man Colonel David Urguhart,
was born on May 5, 1857 as Cora Urquhart
in New Orleans, LA. She later became the
wife of an even wealthier New York
socialite, James Brown-Potter in 1877.
She was one of the first society women
to take to the stage. A strikingly
handsome woman celebrated for her
elegant dress, she immediately became
one of the most popular and active
members of the New York "set." She often
was invited to parties because she was
accomplished at recitation and would
entertain after dinner with her
declamations. This Bishop's
daughter-in-law once shocked the
Newport, RI crowd by reciting "'Ostler
Joe" in a drawing-room.
In the early 1880s after
she offered several amateur mountings in
New York, She decided that perhaps her
real vocation was on the stage, but that
was certainly not a profession for a
woman of her social status and wealth.
The still had something of the stigma of
"looseness" about it. In 1887, Cora left
her husband and her children, all of
them disapproving of her decision to
enter acting, and went to London where
she started her professional acting
career, and was no less social and
poplar than she was in New York. She ran
with a crowd that included the Prince of
Wales, and she later dedicated a book,
My Recitations, to her friend
Robert Browning.
She returned to New
York later that same year to set up her
own company. With Kyrle Bellew as her
leading man, she offered herself in such
roles as Juliet, Pauline (The Lady of
Lyons), Kate Hardcastle, Camille,
and Cleopatra. Her reception varied from
chilly to little more than kind, but she
persisted for a number of years, even
taking her troupe overseas.
In 1898 she joined the
company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree where
she was given a number of important
roles. Her two best received parts in
Shakespeare were as Juliet and as
Cleopatra. Oscar Wilde, impressed with
her talent, offered her the part of
Salome in his play, but she turned it
down; she said she had little sympathy
for the character.
In 1903 her husband
divorced her.
In 1904 she became
manager of the Sovoy, which resulted in
bankruptcy.
In her later years she
returned again to England to appear in
vaudeville there. She retired from the
stage in 1912, and gave one last charity
performance in 1919. In 1933 she wrote
her reminiscences, The Age of
Innocence and I. She also wrote a
book entitled
Beauty and Health."
The final assessment
of her career and her ability as an
actress was that’s he was certainly
competent at her craft, but never truly
outstanding. She died on February 12,
1936.
