Clara Morris

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Morris, Clara [ Clara Morrison] (1846–1925), American actress who is believed to have been on the stage as a child, appearing in pantomime at the Royal Lyceum in Toronto, her birthplace. At 16 she joined the stock company in Cleveland, Ohio, and a few years later toured North America, before joining Daly's Company in New York. She played a wide range of parts, and in spite of a strong accent and an extravagant, unrestrained manner was popular both in New York and on tour. Though not accounted a good actress, she had an extraordinary power of moving an audience, and could always be relied on to fill the theatre, particularly in such parts as Marguerite Gautier in the younger Dumas's The Lady of the Camellias. Among her more serious roles were Lady Macbeth, Julia in Knowles's The Hunchback, and a number of modern heroines. III health forced her into semi-retirement, but she was seen in Canada again in 1889, and in 1892 appeared for the first time in Montreal in Sardou's Odette. She made a return to the theatre in 1904, playing Sister Geneviève in an all-star revival of Oxenford's The Two Orphans, and subsequently appeared in vaudeville until her eyesight failed in 1909.

Morris, Clara [née Morrison] (1848–1925), actress. The Toronto‐born performer began as a child ballerina in Cleveland and eventually acted opposite the great actors of her time. Working for Augustin Daly, she won instant acclaim as the betrayed Anne Sylvester in Man and Wife (1870), followed by the Creole, Cora, in Article 47 (1872), and as the neglected, tragic heroine of Alixe (1873). Leaving Daly's ensemble system, Morris became a star in her own right with such triumphs as the title parts of Camille (1874) and Miss Multon (1876). Modjeska recalled her as “a born actress, genuine, admirable, spontaneous, and powerful in her tragic moments, tender and gentle in the touching scenes, and always true to nature.” Failing health forced her to appear less frequently after the 1880s, though she occasionally tried new plays, revived old ones, and played in vaudeville. In 1901 she published a rather self‐defensive autobiography, Life on the Stage, as well as a curious book of reminiscences, Stage Confidences.