Drew, Mrs John

Drew, Mrs John [née Louisa Lane] (1820–97), American actress and theatre manager, daughter of English actors who could trace their theatrical ancestry back to Elizabethan days. She went on the stage in London as a small child and in 1827 was taken by her widowed mother to New York, where she appeared as many characters in one play. She was also seen with the elder Booth, with the first Joseph Jefferson, and with Edwin Forrest. By the age of 16 her roles included Lady Macbeth and the Widow Melnotte in Bulwer-Lytton's The Lady of Lyons, and she was appearing all over the United States. In 1850 she married as her third husband John Drew (1827–62), an Irish actor who was admired in eccentric parts such as Sir Lucius O'Trigger in Sheridan's The Rivals and Handy Andy in the stage version of Samuel Lover's novel; she was thereafter known as Mrs John Drew. From 1861 to 1892 she managed the stock company at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and from 1880 to 1892 was constantly seen on tour as Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals, one of her best parts, with Joseph Jefferson as Bob Acres. A woman of strong, almost masculine, personality, she ruled her theatre and family with firmness and energy, and contributed greatly to the establishment of the American theatre during the 19th century. Two of her children, John and Georgiana (above), were on the stage. The Royal Family (1927) by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber was drawn from the personalities of the Drew family and the succeeding Barrymore generation.