Le Gallienne, Eva

born Jan. 11, 1899, London, Eng.

died June 3, 1991, Weston, Conn., U.S.

British-born U.S. actress and director.

After moving to New York City in 1915, she appeared in minor stage roles before starring in Liliom (1921). She founded the Civic Repertory Theatre (1926–33), where she directed and acted in plays by Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, and other playwrights not then familiar to U.S. audiences. She later cofounded the short-lived American Repertory Theatre (1946–47). Her most notable later stage appearance was in a 1976 revival of The Royal Family.

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▪ American actress

born Jan. 11, 1899, London, Eng.

died June 3, 1991, Weston, Conn., U.S.

      actress, director, and producer, one of the outstanding figures of the 20th-century American stage.

      The daughter of the British poet Richard Le Gallienne, Eva Le Gallienne felt a vocation for the theatre from the age of seven, when she saw Sarah Bernhardt perform. She made her London debut in 1914 as a walk-on in Monna Vanna. In 1915 she traveled to the United States, where she appeared in various minor and supporting roles before achieving a major success as the star of Liliom (1921).

      In 1926 she founded the Civic Repertory Theatre in New York City to present classics and important foreign plays at low admission prices. Through her productions and translations, she introduced American audiences to the works of Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, and others; she directed and acted in most of the theatre's productions. The Civic Rep was hard hit by the Depression, and it closed in 1933. In 1946 she cofounded the American Repertory Theatre in New York City with Cheryl Crawford and Margaret Webster; it closed after a year. She continued in later years to act, produce, and direct; her last performance was as the White Queen in a 1982 revival of Alice in Wonderland, a role in which she had had a great success 50 years earlier.

      Le Gallienne won many awards, including the National Medal of Arts (1986). In addition to translations, she published two volumes of memoirs, At 33 (1934) and With a Quiet Heart (1953), a children's book, and a biography of the actress Eleonora Duse.

Additional Reading

Helen Sheehy, Eva Le Gallienne (1996); Robert A. Schanke, Shattered Applause: The Lives of Eva Le Gallienne (1992), and Eva Le Gallienne: A Bio-Bibliography (1989).

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