Fox, Della May

▪ American actress and singer

born Oct. 13, 1870, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.

died June 15, 1913, New York, N.Y.

      actress and singer whose professional ability and childlike persona earned her great popularity on the late 19th-century American stage.

      Fox began appearing in amateur theatricals at an early age. She made her first professional appearance at age 13 in an adaptation of a Frances Hodgson Burnett (Burnett, Frances Hodgson) story. The play toured in the Midwest and Canada between 1883 and 1885. For the next five years Fox sang with a succession of touring opera companies, her professional skills benefiting especially from her training in the company of Heinrich Conned. In February 1890 she made her New York debut at Niblo's Garden in The King's Fool. In May of that year she played opposite DeWolf Hopper in the operetta Castles in the Air, and their joint success led to their appearing together again in Wang (1891), Panjandrum (1893), and The Lady or the Tiger (1894).

      Fox's first true starring role came in The Little Trooper in 1894. She subsequently performed in Fleur-de-Lis (1895); The Wedding Day (1897), with Lillian Russell (Russell, Lillian); and The Little Host (1898). The last-named play went on tour throughout the country with Fox's own company, and her performance brought her to the pinnacle of success. She was said to have been for a time the highest-paid performer on the American variety stage. Her diminutive but plump figure helped project the winning impression of a precocious child, and her “Della Fox curl” was imitated by girls across the country. From 1899 she suffered intermittent bouts of ill health, brought on in part by abuse of alcohol and drugs. In 1900 she married Jacob D. Levy, and thereafter she appeared on the stage infrequently. She returned to performing in the 1912 season and gave her last performance in April 1913.

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