Morris, Elizabeth

▪ American actress

born c. 1753, probably in England

died April 17, 1826, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.

      leading actress of the late 18th- and early 19th-century American stage.

      No record of Morris's life exists before her marriage, at a date unknown, to Owen Morris, an actor in Lewis Hallam's traveling American Company. Her first recorded stage appearance in America was at the Southwark Theatre, in Philadelphia, in the autumn of 1772. She subsequently performed with Hallam's troupe in other American cities until the outbreak of the Revolution forced the troupe to retire to the West Indies. They returned in 1785 and resumed their touring. In 1791 Morris and her husband left Hallam to join a new company organized by Thomas Wignell. In 1792 the couple were arrested in Boston some weeks into a run of The School for Scandal; it was reputedly Boston's first theatrical season, albeit an illegal one. In February 1794 Wignell's company opened the new Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, where Morris remained until 1810.

      Morris's elegant figure and command of the grand manner earned her the position as foremost American actress of her day, and the aura of mystery she cultivated helped preserve it. She may have acted as late as 1815, but in her last years she was in private life notoriously reclusive.

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