Agnes Booth

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Booth, Agnes [née Marian Agnes Land Rookes] (1846–1910), actress. Coming from her native Sydney, Australia, she made her first American appearance in San Francisco in 1858 as a child dancer. Using the name Agnes Land, she acted at Maguire's Opera House, then as Mrs. H. A. Perry she made her Broadway debut in 1865 as Florence Trenchard in Our American Cousin. When she married Junius Brutus Booth Jr., in 1867, she took the name Mrs. J. B. Booth, later simplified to Agnes Booth. For her performance as the pathologically destructive Diane Bérard in La Femme de Feu (1874), the News praised her as “the most finished and effective emotional actress at present on the metropolitan stage.” In the same season she also essayed Pauline in The Lady of Lyons and Juliet, and in 1877 she offered her lauded Cleopatra. Booth surprised many with her excellent comic skills as the openly selfish Belinda Treherne in Engaged (1879) and the rattlebrained Mrs. Chetwyn in Young Mrs. Winthrop (1882). Joining A. M. Palmer in 1885 when his ensemble was at its height, she won distinction as the deceived Mrs. Ralston in Jim, the Penman (1886); Mrs. Seabrook, the woman with a secret, in Captain Swift (1888); the comic, uninhibited Joan Bryson, otherwise known as Aunt Jack (1889); the Marquise D'Alein, who must destroy her own reputation to save her son's marriage, in Betrothed (1891); and Audrey in As You Like It (1891). After leaving Palmer in 1892, Booth's star began to wane, to some extent because of poorly chosen vehicles but also because her robust acting style was seen as superannuated by the newer naturalistic schools. Her last major appearance was in L'Arlesienne in 1897.

Booth, Agnes [née Marian Agnes Land Rookes] (1846–1910), Australian-born actress who became well known in America, making her New York début in Tom Taylor's Our American Cousin (1865), followed soon after by Bulwer-Lytton's Richelieu with Edwin Forrest. In 1874 she was seen as Pauline in the same author's The Lady of Lyons, and she showed a gift for comedy in Gilbert's Engaged (1879). She also played Juliet (1874), Cleopatra (1877), and Audrey (in As You Like It, 1891), the last for A. M. Palmer's company which she had joined in 1885. Her emotional acting was greatly admired by some, though it ultimately became outmoded and her career declined.

She married Junius Brutus Booth junior (1821–83) in 1867. Though a lesser actor than his father, he was for many years a useful member of the company at the Bowery Theatre.