Fanny Janauschek (born Francesca Romana Magdalena Janauschek; July 20, 1829 – November 28, 1904) was a Czech-born American stage actress.

Biography

Francesca Romana Magdalena Janauschek was born on July 20, 1829, in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. Her mother worked as a theatre laundress and her father as a tailor. She came to the United States in 1867 and first performed at the Academy of Music in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, on October 9, 1867, managed by

Max Maretzek Max Maretzek (June 28, 1821 – May 14, 1897) was a Moravian-born composer, conductor, and impresario active in the United States and Latin America.''Werner's magazine'', Vol.19 p.561 (1897) Music Teachers National Association, (Digitized by Google ...

. She spoke no English, only German and often worked with all English speaking casts. In three years time since arriving in the U.S. she mastered enough English dialect to communicate with American audiences and decided to make America her home. Some of her performances, especially ''Medea'', were compared to the revered Italian tragedienne

Adelaide Ristori Adelaide Ristori (29 January 18229 October 1906) was a distinguished Italian tragedienne, who was often referred to as the Marquise. Biography She was born in Cividale del Friuli, the daughter of strolling players and appeared as a child on the ...

. She became famous acting in great Shakespearean parts and other famous parts. She was particularly noted for playing

Meg Merrilies ''Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer'' is the second of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott, published anonymously in 1815. According to an introduction that Scott wrote in 1829, he had originally intended to write a story of the supernatural, ...

, a role

Charlotte Cushman Charlotte Saunders Cushman (July 23, 1816 – February 18, 1876) was an American stage actress. Her voice was noted for its full contralto register, and she was able to play both male and female parts. She lived intermittently in Rome, in an expa ...

made famous. In 1873, Janauschek starred in an adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

'', in which she played both the heroine Lady Dedlock and the murderous Mademoiselle Hortense. She played this double role in touring companies for decades. In 1900, Janauschek had a stroke and was paralyzed. She died in 1904, partially blind and bankrupt. Friends and actors gathered a collection to have her buried properly in Evergreen Cemetery, New York City.''The Oxford Companion To American Theatre''. Janauschek had no known offspring.

References

External links

*
Francheska Janauschek portrait gallery at NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection
updated url March 2017)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janauschek, Fanny 1829 births 1904 deaths Actresses from Prague Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States American people of Bohemian descent American Shakespearean actresses 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses