Susan Webb Cushman (March 17, 1822 – May 10, 1859) was a Boston, Massachusetts-born American actress, the younger sister of established actress

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 ...

. Susan Cushman débuted in Epes Sargent's play, ''The Genoese'' in 1836, a year after a trip with her mother to see Charlotte, an up-and-coming actress, in

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and

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American career

Following a failed marriage that same year to Nelson Meriman, after which he left her destitute with a child, she followed Charlotte's advice to pursue an acting career with her. Together they acted in

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, circa 1841–1842, as Grace Harkaway (Susan) and Lady Gay Spanker (Charlotte). She received acclaim in the play ''Satan in Paris'' and played

Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...

to George Vandenhoff's Othello. In 1842 Susan was a member and Charlotte a stage manager of the

Walnut Street Theatre The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnu ...

in Philadelphia, where Vandenhoff performed for six nights for $180. Vandenhoff later acknowledged both Charlotte's and Susan's cool-headedness in his autobiographical book entitled ''Leaves from an Actor's Notebook''. In it he wrote that Susan was "a pretty creature, but had not a spark of Charlotte's genius..." and that "she pleased 'the fellows', however, and was the best walking-lady on the American stage".

Migration to England

Susan followed Charlotte to England in 1845. On December 30, 1845, at the

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, they were so successful in playing Romeo and Juliet, respectively, (using the original version as opposed to theatre prompt) before an audience who labeled them as "American Indians", that they continued there for eighty nights before touring England. Although Charlotte, who enjoyed playing masculine roles, was a good showman and received acclaim from critics, they also praised Susan for the "grace and delicacy of her acting". Sheridan Knowles commended Charlotte primarily, but, in regards to Susan, lauded the first act as being "admirably personated by her beautiful sister". The sisters played together in ''Twelfth Night''. In 1848 Susan enraged a theatre manager during the rehearsal presentations for ''The Lady of Lyons'' in which she was to play the part of "Helen" to Mrs.

Anna Cora Mowatt Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie (, Ogden; after first marriage, Mowatt; after second marriage, Ritchie; pseudonyms, Isabel, Henry C. Browning, and Helen Berkley; March 5, 1819July 21, 1870) was a French-born American author, playwright, public reader, ...

's undisclosed part. When Susan walked in late during the manager's audition of a replacement actress, an angry scene developed which, by Mrs. Mowatt's account, was "such as I never before, and I rejoice to say never after, witnessed in a theatre". Susan was forced to leave.

Marriage and death

Later in 1848, Susan married James Sheridan Muspratt, and retired from the stage, living in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

until her death in 1859, aged 37. The couple had three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cushman, Susan Webb 1822 births 1859 deaths American expatriates in the United Kingdom Actresses from Boston 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses 19th-century British actresses British stage actresses Muspratt family