Charlotte Alice Alter (January 16, 1871 – December 25, 1924) was an American actress on stage and in silent films.

Early life

Alter was born in

La Crosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...

on January 16, 1871, the daughter of Frederick Pernal Alter and Ida Alter (née Soplitt)."Lottie Alter Equestrienne"
''Boston Post'' (December 17, 1893): 11. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

Career

Alter began acting in the American midwest by 1890, playing

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

roles in touring companies managed by

Henrietta Crosman Henrietta Foster Crosman (September 2, 1861 – October 31, 1944) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Crosman was born in Wheeling, Virginia, to George Crosman Jr. a Civil War Major, and Mary B. Wick, a niece of composer Step ...

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III, commonly known as Joe Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedia ...

, and

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

, in such shows as ''

The Cricket on the Hearth ''The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home'' is a novella by Charles Dickens, published by Bradbury and Evans, and released 20 December 1845 with illustrations by Daniel Maclise, John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield and Edwin H ...

'', ''Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush'', ''The Country Circus'', ''Fifi'', '' The Shadows of a Great City'', ''The Girl I Left Behind Me'', and ''Hearts are Trumps''. On Broadway, she acted in ''To Have and to Hold'' (1901), ''The Vinegar Buyer'' (1903), ''The Trifler'' (1905) with

Esme Beringer Esme Beringer (5 September 1875 – 31 March 1972) was an English actress who was noted for her bartitsu fencing skills. Early life Esme Beringer was born in London, the daughter of pianist Oscar Beringer and novelist and playwright Aimée Dani ...

, ''

Charley's Aunt ''Charley's Aunt'' is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt. The complications of the plot inc ...

'' (1906), and ''Excuse Me'' (1911) by

Rupert Hughes Rupert Raleigh Hughes (January 31, 1872 – September 9, 1956) was an American novelist, film director, Academy Award, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, military officer, and music composer. He was the brother of Howard R. Hughes Sr. and uncle of bi ...

. Of her work in ''Excuse Me'', critic

George Jean Nathan George Jean Nathan (February 14, 1882 – April 8, 1958) was an American drama critic and magazine editor. He worked closely with H. L. Mencken, bringing the literary magazine ''The Smart Set'' to prominence as an editor, and co-founding and ...

wrote that she was among "the best in a generally capable cast." She toured Australia and Great Britain in ''

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch ''Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch'' is a 1901 novel by American author Alice Hegan Rice, about a southern family humorously coping with poverty. It was highly popular on its release,Lowell Hayes Harrison, ''A New History of Kentucky'' (1997), p. ...

''. In 1916 she was leading her own company 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 ...

. Silent film appearances by Alter included roles in the film shorts ''Advertising for a Wife'' (1910) and ''An Arizona Romance'' (1910), and the feature films '' The Eternal City'' (1915) alongside

Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey, August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...

and

Thomas Holding Thomas J. Holding (25 January 1880 – 4 May 1929) was a British-born stage and film actor. Biography Born in England in 1880, Holding possibly had an extensive stage career in his native Britain before arriving in the United States. He was po ...

, and ''

The Lottery Man ''The Lottery Man'' is a comic play in three acts by Rida Johnson Young. Produced by the Shubert family, it premiered on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre on December 6, 1909, and was later adapted into a film twice; once in 1916 and again in 1919. It ...

'' (1916) with

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...

and

Thurlow Bergen Thurlow Weed Bergen (1875–1954) was an American actor of stage and silent film. Bergen was born on January 14, 1875, East Saginaw, Michigan to Issarella (Ella) Winner and the lawyer George B. Bergen. Bergen went to study law in Washington D.C. ...

Personal life

Alter married a fellow actor, Harry C. Bradley, in 1923. She died in

Beechhurst, Queens Beechhurst is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is northeast of Whitestone, bordered by the East River to the north, the Cross Island Parkway to the south, and the approaches to the Throgs Neck a ...

, New York, in 1924 of

pneumonitis Pneumonitis describes general inflammation of lung tissue. Possible causative agents include radiation therapy of the chest, exposure to medications used during chemo-therapy, the inhalation of debris (e.g., animal dander), aspiration, herbicides ...

. She was buried at

Flushing Cemetery Flushing Cemetery is a cemetery in Flushing in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. History Flushing Cemetery has several predecessors. In the year 1789 (64 years before the cemetery was founded), George Washington had crossed th ...

References

External links

* *
Photographs of Lottie Alter
in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, New York Public Library Digital Collections.
A photograph of Lottie Alter
by Matzene, in the University of Washington Libraries. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alter, Lottie 1871 births 1924 deaths 20th-century American actresses Vaudeville performers People from La Crosse, Wisconsin American film actresses American stage actresses