Martha Rofheart (born Martha Jane Jones, 1917–1990) was an American writer of

historical novels Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

, an actress and early in her career, a model.

Early life

She was born Martha Jane Jones, May 27, 1917 in Louisville, Kentucky, to Evan Jones and his wife, the former Noreen Sorrell. When her mother Noreen died in the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, Martha was a year and a half old, and with her young father unable to care for her, she was raised by her paternal grandparents Evan Jones and his wife Elizabeth or Lizzy, who were of Welsh and Scottish extraction. She grew up in the

Portland, Louisville Portland is a neighborhood and former independent town northwest of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. It is situated along a bend of the Ohio River just below the Falls of the Ohio, where the river curves to the north and then to the south, thus pla ...

neighborhood, surrounded by a large

upper-middle-class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

extended family, that was spread out along Portland Avenue and nearby streets. Her great-grandfather, W.O. Jones, and her grandfather, Evan Jones, were partners in a boiler works factory, C.J.Walton & Son, that employed some of her extended family as

boilermaker A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

s, including her father, Evan Jones. While she was still in the first grade, her grandfather would give her a quarter for each poem she wrote; growing up she had several poems published in Louisville newspapers and magazines, and at the age of 10, she won a national one-act play contest. Martha Jane attended the Louisville Public Schools, first at the

Montgomery Street School The Montgomery Street School, also known as the Emma Dolfinger School and located at 2500-2506 Montgomery Street, Louisville, Kentucky, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With . Built in 1852, and once used as a Civil War hosp ...

through sixth grade, and then at Western Middle School, before graduating in 1934 from Shawnee High School (Kentucky), with Honors. She won a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati's Drama School, the College-Conservatory of Music, which she attended for two years. While attending college, she wrote to

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and We ...

of the acting couple

The Lunts Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway and West End productions. After th ...

, and was invited by Miss Fontanne to audition in New York for their newly formed repertory theatre company.

Career as a model and actress

After moving to New York City, she became a model with the Harry Conover agency. In 1940 the

Ashcan School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. ...

artist,

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

painted four portraits of her; "Lady From Louisville", "Blue Eyed Girl" and "Miss Jones" are all in the collection of the

Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...

, "Dramatics" also known as "Portrait of a Lady in Red", was sold at auction in 1984 and is in a private collection. As an actress in the 1940s and 1950s, Martha Jones made her Broadway debut with

Alfred Lunt Alfred David Lunt (August 12, 1892 – August 3, 1977) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the 1920s to 1960, co-starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway and West End thea ...

and

in ''The Pirate'' in 1942, and was Miss Fontanne's protege. She appeared in ''

Blithe Spirit (play) ''Blithe Spirit'' is a comic play by Noël Coward, described by the author as "an improbable farce in three acts". The play concerns the socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric Mediumship, medium and clairvoyant Mada ...

'', ''Arsenic and Old Lace'', ''The Heiress'', ''The Respectful Prostitute'', and other plays, both on Broadway and on tour in the United States and Canada. In July 1943, she married actor

Robert Emhardt Robert Emhardt (July 24, 1914 – December 26, 1994) was an American character actor who worked on stage, in film and on television. Emhardt was frequently cast as a villain, often a crooked businessman or corrupt politician. Early years Em ...

, with whom she debuted in ''The Pirate'', then appeared in ''Harriet'' with on Broadway.

Career as a writer

After her first marriage ended, she remarried in November 1952 to Ralph Rofheart, an art director and advertising executive, by whom she had one child Evan, in 1957. Soon after her son was born, she chose to be a full-time mother, and she stopped pursuing acting. In the late 1960s she began working as a freelance advertising copywriter. In the early 1970s, Rofheart wrote a novel of Henry V of England, ''Fortune Made His Sword'', which was purchased, by William Targ, then the Editor-In-Chief of

G. P. Putnam's Sons G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group. History The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...

. It was optioned as a

Book of the Month Club Book of the Month (founded 1926) is a United States subscription-based e-commerce service that offers a selection of five to seven new hardcover books each month to its members. Books are selected and endorsed by a panel of judges, and members c ...

selection for March 1972, published in the UK as ''Cry God For Harry'', London : Talmy,

972 Year 972 ( CMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – Emperor John I Tzimiskes divides the Bulgarian territories, recent ...

Critic

Granville Hicks Granville Hicks (September 9, 1901 – June 18, 1982) was an American Marxist and, later, anti-Marxist novelist, literary critic, educator, and editor. Early life Granville Hicks was born September 9, 1901, in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Frank Stev ...

, reviewing ''Fortune Made His Sword'' in ''The New York Times Book Review'', wrote that Rofheart "deftly avoids the dangers" of writing about a subject that's "Shakespeare territory".

Gilbert Highet Gilbert Arthur Highet (; June 22, 1906 – January 20, 1978) was a Scottish American classicist, academic writer, intellectual critic, and literary historian. Biography Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Gilbert Highet is best known as a mid-20th-centur ...

, writing in the Book of the Month Club News for February 1971, had this to say: "Martha Rofheart has used her historical knowledge and her creative imagination to give us a splendid full scale portrait of a mighty man".

Published work

After ''Fortune Made His Sword'', Rofheart wrote five novels, ''Glendower Country'', New York, Putnam

973 Year 973 ( CMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Spring – The Byzantine army, led by General Melias (Domestic of the S ...

in the UK published as ''Cry God for Glendower'', London : Talmy Franklin,

''My Name Is

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

'', New York : Putnam,

974 Year 974 ( CMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who ha ...

''Burning Sappho'' in the UK, London : Talmy Franklin,

975 Year 975 (Roman numerals, CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine wars#Byzantine resurgence, 863–11th century, A ...

a fictionalized theatrical

family saga The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time. In novels (or sometimes sequences of novels) with a serious intent, this is often ...

entitled ''The Savage Brood'', New York : Putnam,

''The Alexandrian'', New York : Crowell,

976 Year 976 ( CMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 10 – Emperor John I Tzimiskes dies at Constantinople, after re ...

a novel of

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

and ''Lionheart!: A Novel of

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...

, King of England'', New York : Simon and Schuster,

981 Year 981 ( CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Births * Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027) * Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian ...

Several of Rofheart's novels were translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Serbian. In May 2013, ''The Alexandrian'' was translated and published in Italy by Castelvecchi. Based upon her, "outstanding contribution to Modern fiction", with the publication of ''Glendower Country'', Rofheart was elected on November 21, 1974, A DAUGHTER of MARK TWAIN, by Cyril Clemens and the ''Mark Twain Journal''. ''Fortune Made His Sword'', ''Glendower Country'', ''Lionheart'' and ''The Alexandrian'' were reissued as Kindle Books in 2015 by Endeavour Press, a UK eBook publisher. Two of Rofheart's short stories have been published in Kindle format: "An Evening With Lynn Fontanne", is based Martha's last visit with a very old Lynn Fontanne, and the second story, "The Peppermints", is based upon the author's recollections of her childhood in Louisville. She died June 19, 1990, in New York City.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rofheart, Martha 1917 births 1990 deaths American historical novelists American stage actresses 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Louisville, Kentucky American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages Atherton High School alumni Women historical novelists Novelists from Kentucky Kentucky women writers Female models from Kentucky