Kate Josephine Bateman Crowe (October 7, 1842 – April 8, 1917) was an American actress. She started out as a child actor and later developed a career in romantic leading parts.

Early life and childhood acting

Kate Josephine Bateman was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Her father,

Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman (December 6, 1812March 22, 1875), was an American actor and manager. Life Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1812, the fourth child and second son of Amzi Bateman (c.1777–1816), a fisherman, and his wife, Catherine Bate ...

, was an actor and theatrical manager. Her mother,

Sidney Frances Bateman Sidney Frances (Cowell) Bateman (March 29, 1823 – January 13, 1881) was an American actor, playwright, and theatrical manager who spent much of her career on the American stage. Biography Sidney Frances Cowell was the daughter of Joseph Cowe ...

, was a playwright, theatrical manager, and actor, and her maternal grandfather Joseph Cowell was a comic actor. Bateman and one of her sisters, Ellen, showed early theatrical talent, and the senior Batemans devoted themselves to managing their daughters' careers. Kate began appearing on stage by the age of five, at a time when child prodigies were something of a rage in the United States. After performing with Ellen around the Midwest and Southeast for a couple of years, the girls debuted in New York in 1849; their show included excerpts from several of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's plays. The showman

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

put them on a large salary to appear at his museum, and in 1850-52 he sponsored their tour of Great Britain as 'The Bateman Children'. This was followed by a long tour of the United States that took the girls to California. In 1856, Kate and Ellen retired from child acting.

Later acting career

In 1859, the Bateman family moved to New York, and the following March, sixteen-year-old Kate appeared in her mother's adaptation of

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

's ''

Evangeline ''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during t ...

'' at New York's

Winter Garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

. This role launched Bateman on her adult career as an actor, and she eventually became known primarily for romantic roles like Shakespeare's

Juliet Juliet Capulet () is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist R ...

and Pauline in ''

The Lady of Lyons ''The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride'', commonly known as ''The Lady of Lyons'', is a five act romantic melodrama written in 1838 by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. It was first produced in London at Covent Garden Theatre on 15 Februar ...

'' as well as leading roles in melodramas. Another early success was as Julia in ''The Hunchback'' in 1862. One of Bateman's most celebrated roles was as the title character in ''Leah the Forsaken'',

Augustin Daly John Augustin Daly (July 20, 1838June 7, 1899) was one of the most influential men in American theatre during his lifetime. Drama critic, theatre manager, playwright, and adapter, he became the first recognized stage director in America. He exer ...

's adaptation of Mosenthal's ''Deborah''. The play opened in Boston in 1862, moved to

Niblo's Garden Niblo's Garden was a theater on Broadway and Crosby Street, near Prince Street, in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the ''Sans Souci'' and was later the property of ...

in New York in 1863, and then went to London for a three-year run. Despite poor reviews, it proved to be very popular, in part due to Bateman's highly emotional performance. In 1863, Bateman wrote ''A Memoir of Miss Bateman''; it included her observations about performing the play together with some extracts from the play itself. In 1866, Bateman married George Crowe (1841-1889), son of

Eyre Evans Crowe Eyre Evans Crowe (1799February 25, 1868) was an English journalist and historian. Life The son of an Army officer of Anglo-Irish ancestry, Crowe was born in Southampton and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1820s he turned to writing n ...

(a former editor of the London '' Daily News''). She settled in England with him and left the stage for two years. After Bateman returned to the stage she appeared regularly at the Lyceum Theatre in London with her sisters

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

Isabel Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...

. Here she played the role of Lady Macbeth with

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

and in 1875 took the title-part of

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's ''Queen Mary''. When her mother became manager of the

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-seat ...

in 1879, she appeared as Helen Macgregor in ''Rob Roy'', followed in 1881 by the role of Margaret Field in

Henry Arthur Jones Henry Arthur Jones (20 September 1851 – 7 January 1929) was an English dramatist, who was first noted for his melodrama '' The Silver King'' (1882), and went on to write prolifically, often appearing to mirror Ibsen from the opposite (conserva ...

's ''His Wife''. In the late 1880s, Bateman left the stage again for several years due to an illness. She returned in 1891 in

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

' '' The American''. The following year, she opened a school for acting in London. In 1907, she appeared in

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

' ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

''. In 1917, Bateman died from a cerebral hemorrhage. She was buried at

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

parish church.

Descendants

Her daughter, Sidney Kate Bateman Crowe (1871-1962), was also an actor, as was her granddaughter, Sidney Kate Leah Hunter (1892-1941), who used the stage names Leah Hunter and Leah Bateman Hunter.

In popular culture

An 1865 London appearance by Bateman in

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

was referenced in chapter 5 of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's novel

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

. The character Bloom reminisces: "Poor papa! How he used to talk of Kate Bateman in that. Outside the Adelphi in London waited all the afternoon to get in. Year before I was born that was: sixty-five." James Joyce, 'Ulysses' chapter 5. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4300/pg4300-images.html#chap05

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bateman, Kate Josephine 1842 births 1917 deaths 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Baltimore Crowe family 20th-century American actresses