Gilda Varesi
Gilda Varesi (September 28, 1887 – May 27, 1965), also known as Gilda Varesi Archibald, was an Italian-born actress and playwright.
Early life[edit]
Gilda Varesi was born in Milan, and adopted as the daughter of opera singer Elena Boccabadati Varesi.[1] Her maternal grandparents Felice Varesi and Cecilia Boccabadati Gazzudo were also opera singers. Luigia Boccabadati was Gilda's great-grandmother. Gilda Varesi, who was named for a character in Verdi's Rigoletto,[2] moved to Chicago as a child, with her family.[3]
Career[edit]
Varesi started on stage in Chicago, with the Ben Greet Players, before joining Helena Modjeska's troupe,[4] then working with Minnie Maddern Fiske in Salvation Nell (1908) and Little Italy.[5] She toured as the lead in War Brides in 1915.[6] She covered John Barrymore's role for ten performances of The Jest when he was ill in 1920.[7][8] She recalled her days as an understudy in her later work, saying, "No one ever lost a position by giving a lift to someone else. Remembering how helpful understudying was to me, I always try to give my own understudy at least one chance to appear publicly."[9]
Varesi co-wrote (with Dolly Byrne) and starred in Enter Madame,[10] a comedy about an opera singer based on her mother,[11] who died months before the show opened on Broadway in 1920.[12] Based on this performance, critic Maude Sperry Turner called Varesi, "the most gifted actress on Broadway,"[13] and Alexander Woollcott declared her "a first-rate actress, with a distinct tragic power and an inborn capacity to send chills up and down your spine."[14]
Enter Madame was adapted for the screen twice, as a silent film in 1922, starring Clara Kimball Young and Elliott Dexter, and as a sound picture in 1935, with Cary Grant and Elissa Landi. It was also included in The Best Plays of 1920-1921 (1921).[15]
She appeared in two silent films, The Man of Mystery (1917) and Romance (1920, now lost).
Personal life[edit]
Gilda Varesi was introduced to English lawyer John Gordon Archibald by actress Doris Keane and playwright Alfred Sutro in London.[16] They married in 1922.[17] She died in 1965, aged 77 years, in London.
References[edit]
- ^ "Elena Varesi" Musical Courier (June 24, 1920): 34.
- ^ "Who's Who on Stage" New York Times (April 27, 1919): 50.
- ^ "Minute Visits in the Wings"[permanent dead link] New York Times (January 24, 1915): X7.
- ^ "Modjeska Bequeathed Role" New York Times (June 10, 1909): 7.
- ^ "Gilda Varesi in Playlet" New York Times (May 22, 1912): 13.
- ^ Cardinal, Agnes; Turner, Elaine; Tylee, Claire M. (2013). War Plays by Women: An International Anthology. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 9781136357251.
- ^ "John Barrymore Ill" New York Times (January 24, 1920): 14.
- ^ "Gilda Varesi in New Play" New York Times (July 8, 1920): 16.
- ^ Bernard Sobel, "Actors Who Are Hidden" Theatre Magazine (September 1921): 170.
- ^ "Enter Gilda Varesi: A New Star Twinkles in 'Enter Madame'" Current Opinion (February 1921): 199.
- ^ Myles E. Connolly, "Prima Donna's Daughter Writes Own Play and Is Its Leading Lady" Boston Post (August 21, 1921): 41. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Alexander Woollcott, "The Shadow on a Great Success" Everybody's Magazine (January 1921): 39.
- ^ Maude Sperry Turner, "The City of Escape" The Delineator (March 1921): 14.
- ^ Alexander Woollcott, "Second Thoughts on First Nights" New York Times (August 22, 1920): X1.
- ^ Gilda Varesi Archibald, The Online Books Page.
- ^ "The Romantic Courtship of Gilda Varesi" Detroit Free Press (June 25, 1922): 96. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Gilda Varesi to Marry" New York Times (March 11, 1922): 18.
External links[edit]
- Gilda Varesi at IMDb
- Gilda Varesi on IBDB.
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