Georgia O'Ramey (January 1, 1883 – April 2, 1928) was an American actress in comedies and musical theatre.

Early life

Georgia B. O'Ramey was born in

Fredericktown, Ohio Fredericktown is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,493 at the 2010 census. History Fredericktown was platted in 1807, and named after Frederick, Maryland, the native home of a first settler. Geography Frederi ...

, the daughter of William B. O'Ramey and Emma Tude O'Ramey. She attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

Career

O'Ramey played violin in revues as a young woman. She acted, sang and danced regularly in Broadway musicals and comedies through the 1910s, with roles in the shows ''Lonesome Town'' (1908), ''The Chaperon'' (1908-1909), ''Seven Days'' (1909-1910), ''The Point of View'' (1912), ''The Switchboard'' (1913), ''A Pair of White Gloves'' (1913), ''Dancing Around'' (1914-1915), ''Around the Map'' (1915-1916), ''Miss Springtime'' (1916-1917), ''

Leave It to Jane ''Leave It to Jane'' is a musical theatre, musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, based on the 1904 play ''The College Widow (play), The College Widow'', by George Ade. The story conc ...

'' (1917-1918), ''The Velvet Lady'' (1919), ''Daffy Dill'' (1922), ''Jack and Jill'' (1923), and ''

No, No, Nanette ''No, No, Nanette'' is a musical comedy with lyrics by Irving Caesar and Otto Harbach, music by Vincent Youmans, and a book by Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel, based on Mandel's 1919 Broadway play ''My Lady Friends''. The farcical story involves th ...

'' (1925-1926). O'Ramey appeared in one silent film, ''The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot'' (1914). She also had stints in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

. "Every day I am adding to my vaudeville vocabulary," she confessed in 1920, "and when I go back to the legitimate I am afraid my friends who have never been in vaudeville will not understand me." During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she and her costar

Oscar Shaw Oscar Shaw (born Oscar Schwartz, October 11, 1887, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – died March 6, 1967, in Little Neck, New York), was a stage and screen actor and singer, remembered primarily today for his role as Bob Adams in the first f ...

posed for photos to promote

Liberty Loans A liberty bond (or liberty loan) was a war bond that was sold in the United States to support the Allies of World War I#Co-belligerents; the United States, Allied cause in World War I. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic dut ...

Personal life

Georgia O'Ramey married businessman Robert B. Griffin in 1912. They divorced. After weeks of headaches, she died suddenly in 1928, aged 45 years, at a hotel in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, just hours before the opening night of the show ''Nize Girl'', in which she was to star. Her obituary in the ''New York Times'' noted that she was "Distinguished on the American stage for a dozen years as one of the few woman comedians who could successfully sustain a broad burlesque role." The ''Baltimore Sun'' recalled as "one of the best of our woman clowns. In a fuller sense than many of the others, she had the comedy spirit." She left her estate to her parents and to the

Actors Fund of America The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that supports performers and behind-the-scenes workers in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 17,000 people directly each year. Ser ...

."Georgia O'Ramey Estate $11,995" ''New York Times'' (April 10, 1931): 27. via

ProQuest ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:ORamey, Georgia 1883 births 1928 deaths American stage actresses Oberlin College alumni People from Fredericktown, Ohio Vaudeville performers American women in World War I American silent film actresses 20th-century American actresses American women comedians Comedians from Ohio Actresses from Ohio 20th-century American comedians