Rosalie Stahl (October 29, 1868 – 1955) was a

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-born

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stage actress.

Early life

Her father was Col. Ernest Karl Stahl, a Prussian-born newspaperman who was drama and music critic for the '' Chicago InterOcean'' and her mother, Catherine McDonald, was born in Canada to a Scottish father and Irish mother.''1880 United States Federal Census'' Rose was born in

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and spent her formative years in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where her father worked. She later moved to

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. She made her debut in

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in 1887, toured with Daniel E. Bandmann in 1888, and appeared in

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in 1897. In 1902–03 she starred as Janice Meredith in a road touring version of the play of that name. She first appeared in her role of Patricia O'Brien in 1904 in the sketch called ''The Chorus Girl'', which she carried to

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in 1906, and she reappeared in New York in the revised four-act play, ''The Chorus Lady'', in which she made a sensation. RoseStahl1912

She had until this time remained largely unknown to the theatre watching public, yet by 1907 had "jumped to the front in the theatrical firmament" and was drawing comparisons with

David Warfield David Warfield (November 28, 1866 – June 27, 1951) was an American stage actor. Life and career Warfield was born David Wohlfeld in San Francisco, California, to German-Jewish parents, Louise and Sigmund Wohlfeld. His first connection wit ...

. She appeared in

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for the first time towards the end of 1907, where she was described as a "theatrical star of the first magnitude". Following her performances in ''The Chorus Lady'', she was held in high regard by critics, describing her as "a eomedienne with an exquisite sense of humor", while praising her naturalness in acting. Afterward she played in ''Maggie Pepper'' (1911), which critic Percy Hammond writing for the ''

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'' did not consider a good play nor entertainment, yet believed the inclusion of Stahl, who played her role "most appealingly", made it a "diversion of no unwholesome type". In 1914, she played the role of Lucille Higgins in ''A Perfect Lady''; in this play, she received an encore with the ''

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'' commenting that "no one on the stage has quite the plaintive voice that is so characteristic to this great actress", noting that she was not taken seriously a decade prior. As with many turn of the century stage stars, Stahl showed no interest in the new medium of

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

when the fledgling studios came courting stage stars around 1912. Like

, she starred in a handful of plays, became famous for them, and played them for many years.

Personal life

Stahl was married twice. First to E. P. Sullivan, an actor famous for starring in the hugely popular play and later (1916) film ''The Black Crook''; they divorced in the mid-1890s. Her second husband was William Bonelli, an actor whom she wed on October 17, 1895 in Hudson, New Jersey. This marriage lasted until Bonelli's death. She bore no children in either marriage. Her father died in 1921 in a

hospital at the age of 77, survived by Stahl's sister and three brothers.

Note

In the 1980 film '' Somewhere in Time'',

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film ''Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, ...

played a journalist researching an Edwardian actress in the library of a large hotel. Reeve pulls out a cache of photos and one of the photos shows a child standing holding a doll. The child is Stahl; the same photo appears in Stahl's biographical entry in Daniel Blum's 1954 2nd edition ''Great Stars of the American Stage''.''Great Stars of the American Stage'' by Daniel Blum ''Profile #53'' c. 1952; 2nd edition, ca. 1954.

References

External links

Reading materials and a photographRose Stahl
photo gallery NYP Library Billy Rose Collection.

click the download high resolution PDF link to read) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stahl, Rose 1868 births 1955 deaths 20th-century American actresses 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Chicago Date of death missing Place of death missing American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Scottish descent Canadian emigrants to the United States