Lillian Russell (December 4, 1860 – June 6, 1922) was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago. Her parents separated when she was eighteen, and she moved to New York with her mother. She quickly began to perform professionally, singing for Tony Pastor and playing roles in comic opera, including Gilbert and Sullivan works. She married composer Edward Solomon in 1884 and created roles in several of his operas in London, but in 1886 he was arrested for bigamy. Russell was married four times, but her longest relationship was with Diamond Jim Brady, who supported her extravagant lifestyle for four decades.In 1885, Russell returned to New York and continued to star in operetta and musical theatre. For many years, she was the foremost singer of operettas in America, performing continuously through the end of the 19th century. In 1899, she joined the Weber and Fields's Music Hall, where she starred for five years. After 1904, she began to have vocal difficulties and switched to dramatic roles. She later returned to musical roles in vaudeville, however, finally retiring from performing around 1919. In later years, Russell wrote a newspaper column, advocated women's suffrage and was a popular lecturer.
One afternoon, while mother was out, a friend of ours - Mrs.Rose - who lived in the same house, said she had a caller for whom she would like me to sing. I consented. I never needed much coaxing to perform - whatever the time or place. So I went up to her suite and met a soldierly-looking little Italian who listened critically while I sang my little repertoire of concert songs. Then he suddenly turned to me and said, 'How would you like to sing those songs every night in my theater for seventy-five dollars a week?' I had no idea who he was, or what his theater was like, but I was absolutely calm as I accepted the astounding offer.
2
He was a little general - Tony Pastor. His hair was black, so was his mustache which was waxed and rolled into straight, fierce points. Knowing now what I do about hairdressers' secrets, I am inclined to believe that Tony aided nature in the glossy blackness of his hair and mustache. [He] was always dressed with exquisite taste, wherever you found him. His manners were suave and distinguished, and his family life was a beautiful one. Mrs Pastor left the stage when she married Tony and she was his companion everywhere he went - a gracious, lovely woman. And what a showman her husband was! And what stars he made in that neat little theater of his!
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Fact
1
America's foremost singing star of operettas in the 1890's and a celebrated star of burlesque in early 1900's. Appeared on Broadway from 1883. The daughter of newspaper publisher Charles E. Leonard and a noted feminist of the period, Cynthia Leonard, Lillian achieved fame as much for her flamboyant lifestyle as for her performances.
2
Had affairs with financier "Diamond" Jim Brady and strong-man "The Great Sandow" (Eugen Sandow). Brady lavished her with gifts, including her own luxury railroad car. The couple would cycle around Central Park on their gold plated, diamond encrusted "exercise mobiles."
3
When Alexander Graham Bell introduced long distance telephone service on 8 May 1890, her voice was the first carried over the line. Stationed in New York, Russell sang "Sabre Song" to audiences in Boston and Washington.
4
Daughter with Solomon, Lillian Russell Jr., born 10 May 1884; they were married on the baby's first birthday. This marriage was later annulled because he neglected to mention that he was already married.
5
Third husband Giovanni Perugini was born John Haley Augustin Chatterton in Michigan (c. 1855 - 1914). She threw him out after two months of marriage.
6
Joined the fledgling union for actors, the "White Rats," along with Fay Templeton and Jennie Yeamans. They were the first female members. She was also a major player in the Actor's Strike of 1919.
7
Spouse Alexander Pollock Moore (1867-1930) was the owner-publisher of a Pittsburgh newspaper, The Leader.
8
Russell's birth year is often erroneously given as 1861.
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