Grace Filkins (June 3, 1865 – September 16, 1962) was an American stage actress.

Early life

Grace Sweetman was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

.George Lesoir
"Grace Filkins"
''The Theatre'' (October 5, 1889): 493. Her father was a rabbi."The Heroine of 'Shore Acres'"
''Munsey's Magazine'' (May 1896): 232.

Career

Filkins started performing in variety shows, and in the companies of Augustin Daly and

Helena Modjeska Helena Modrzejewska (; born Jadwiga Benda; 12 October 1840 – 8 April 1909), known professionally as Helena Modjeska, was a Polish actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. She was successful first on the Polish stage. After e ...

. She had a long career on Broadway, appearing in shows from 1894 to 1931, including ''

The Passing Show ''The Passing Show'' was a musical revue in three acts, billed as a "topical extravaganza", with a book and lyrics by Sydney Rosenfeld and music by Ludwig Engländer and various other composers. It featured spoofs of theatrical productions of t ...

'' (1894), ''The Royal Box'' (1897-1898), ''The Brixton Burglary'' (1901), ''The Lady Across the Hall'' (1905), ''The School for Husbands'' (1905), ''The Daughters of Men'' (1906-1907), ''The Third Degree'' (1909), ''Drifting'' (1910), ''Rita Coventry'' (1923), ''Head or Tail'' (1926), and finally appearing in ''In the Best of Families'' (1931). "I would be glad to be called an intellectual actress," she told an interviewer in 1910. "I should like to deserve to be called that." In 1900, a non-alcoholic cocktail was named for Grace Wilkins, consisting of lemon juice and sarsaparilla. She left the Rosina Vokes Company in 1892, and sued them for lost salary, citing mistreatment by fellow actor Felix Morris. She later sued actress

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

and her husband, and playwright Preston Gibson. She was active and visible as a military wife, even as she continued her career on the stage. She spoke of becoming a Red Cross nurse in 1898. In 1909 she was appointed to head a women's committee working to raise the Maine. She took several years' leave from the stage and traveled to the Philippines while her husband was stationed there.

Personal life

Grace Sweetman was married and widowed twice, and had one daughter. Her first husband was Robert J. Filkins, a theatrical manager; she was widowed when he died in 1886. Her second husband was

Adolph Marix Adolph Marix (April 24, 1848 – June 11, 1919), was a German-born American officer in the United States Navy, who served in the Spanish–American War. The former executive officer of the battleship ''USS Maine'', he served as recorder on the 189 ...

, a naval officer; they married in 1896. She was widowed again when Adolph died in 1919. Grace Filkins died in 1962, aged 97 years, in New York City. Her gravesite is with her second husband's, in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Grace Filkins' daughter, Lydia Filkins, married conductor

Nikolai Sokoloff Nikolai Grigoryevich Sokoloff (28 May 1886 – 25 September 1965) was a Russian-American conductor and violinist. Biography He was born in Kiev, and studied music at Yale. From 1916 to 1917 he was musical director of the San Francisco ...

in 1911; they divorced in 1936."Sokoloff is Divorced"
''New York Times'' (November 1, 1936): 2.

References

External links

Grace Filkins's listing
at IBDB. {{DEFAULTSORT:Filkins, Grace 1865 births 1962 deaths American actresses Burials at Arlington National Cemetery