Fisher, Clara

▪ American actress

born July 14, 1811, probably London, Eng.

died Nov. 12, 1898, Metuchen, N.J., U.S.

      Anglo-American actress whose personality and performances inspired an enormous following in the United States.

      Fisher made her stage debut in 1817, at the age of six, in a children's adaptation of David Garrick's Lilliput at the Drury Lane Theatre. Her performance in that and in an afterpiece of excerpts from Richard III captivated the audience. She subsequently appeared at Covent Garden and then began a 10-year period of touring up and down Great Britain, winning popular acclaim in a variety of child's and adult's roles.

      Fisher went to the United States in 1827 and made her debut in New York City that same year. She was a sensation, and in appearances in leading theatres in virtually every major American city over the next seven years she added to her popular success. Her characterizations of both male and female roles were imbued with a buoyant spirit and great charm. In the craze of adulation that attended her, her name was given to babies, racehorses, stagecoaches, and steamboats, and she was generally esteemed the leading actress of the American stage. After her marriage in 1834 to James G. Maeder, an Irish musician, she continued to act, but less frequently and increasingly seldom as a star. In later years she played with various stock companies, including those of Mrs. John Drew's Arch Street Theatre and of Augustin Daly. At various times she taught dramatics and elocution. Her last performance was in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1889.

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