Cora Tanner (c. 1861–1945) was an American stage actress who was most popular in the mid-1880s through her retirement from the stage in 1902.

Biography

Tanner was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

around 1861. She first appeared on stage at

McVicker's Theater McVicker's Theater (1857–1984) was a playhouse in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Built for actor James Hubert McVicker, the theater was the leading stage for comedic plays in Chicago's early years. It often hosted performances by Edwin Booth ...

in Chicago; she reported she was 14 at the time.(May 1896)
An Artist in Melodrama
''

Munsey's Magazine ''Munsey's Weekly'', later known as ''Munsey's Magazine'', was a 36-page quarto United States, American magazine founded by Frank Munsey, Frank A. Munsey in 1889 and edited by John Kendrick Bangs. Frank Munsey aimed to publish "a magazine of the pe ...

'', p. 238 She first appeared in London in 1880. She was the first American Princess Ida in the

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

opera of the same name in 1884. The 1901 book ''Players of the Present'' opined that "since the beginning of the season of 1885-86 she has been constantly before the public more or less prominently as a star," reporting her first success was the role of Annie Meadows in Robert Buchanan's ''Alone in London'' (playing the role from 1884 to 1888), and then in 1888 in the same author's play ''Fascination''. In 1895-96 she appeared in the Broadway hit '' The Sporting Duchess''. She appears to have retired from the stage in 1902. As typical of a stage star of her day, her personal life was occasionally news fodder, including her public divorce from Colonel William E. Sinn, a Brooklyn theatre manager. Sinn tried to claim that Tanner's first marriage to Fred Farlin had never been ended, making their marriage invalid, but lost that claim. Occasionally there were comments in the news about her weight, which tended to be a bit on the heavier side. In 1899, reports ran that she almost died from eating poisoned candy that was left at her hotel by a messenger. In 1903, Tanner married Charles S. Reed in New York, and public coverage of her essentially ceased.(7 August 1903)
Cora Tanner Married
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''Players of the Present, Part III
p. 359 (1901)(15 April 1899)
Poison in Roses - Desperate Attempt Made Upon The Life of Cora Tanner, The Actress
''Saint Paul Globe''(27 June 1893)

''

''(5 October 1890)
Cora Tanner at Albaugh's
''Sunday Herald'', p. 3, col. 1(24 September 1896)
Miss Tanner a Fixture
''Phillipsburg Herald''(12 April 1902)
Footlights
''New York World'', p. 6(16 October 1886)

''Omaha Daily Bee''Cora Tanner's Woes
''Marble Hill Press''(25 February 1893)
Cora Tanner's Husbands
''National Police Gazette'', p. 7 Tanner died in March 1945 in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

, Michigan, at a reported age of 84.Bygone Days: A look at the past in NE Allegan County
under heading "75 Years Ago — March 30, 1945", "(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)", retrieved 5 January 2022(22 December 1945
Coburn Spiels at Episcopal Actors' Guild Memorial
''Billboard'' (mention of "Cora Tanner Reed" as among actors who died that year to be included in an annual commemorative service of the Episcopal Actor's Guild)

References

External links

*

at robertbuchanan.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Cora 19th-century American actresses 20th-century American actresses American stage actresses 1861 births 1945 deaths