Lillian Russell

References: Lillian Russell (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/R/RusslL.html). She won a Tony Award in 1990 for Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage. On her passing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1922, Russell was interred in the Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. She played the title character in the stage production of Alan Bennett's Lady in the Van and starred as Peter Pan in Sir J.M.Baries fairytale story "Peter Pan". She performed with a variety of opera companies including the company of the Casino Theater in New York and the company of Weber and Fields. She has two sons by Stephens, actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin. Among her most well-known roles were in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience and The Sorcerer as well as Jacques Offenbach's The Princess of Trebizonde, The Brigands, and The Grand Duchess. She has been married twice, first to Robert Stephens (divorced) and then to Beverley Cross (his death).

For years, Russell was the foremost singer of operettas in the U.S. In 1969 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. For forty years, she was the companion of businessman "Diamond Jim" Brady who showered her with extravagant gifts of diamonds and gemstones. She started her career at the Oxford Playhouse Theatre with Frank Shelley, and first appeared on the movie screen in 1956. Since her first appearance at Tony Pastor's she was also the subject of a great deal fanfare in the newsmedia. She received numerous honours throughout her career, culminating in a DBE in 1990. Not only was her voice celebrated but her beauty caused quite a stir among the men and the women of the audience. Dame Margaret Natalie Smith Cross DBE (born December 28, 1934 in Ilford, Essex), better known as Maggie Smith, is a British film, stage, and television actress.

Russell's appearance caused such a stir that she stayed on with Pastor and starred in some of his comic operas. Tony Pastor, known as the father of vaudeville, was responsible for some of the biggest stars in show business. In 1879, under the new guise of "Lillian Russell", Helen made her first appearance on the august stage at Tony Pastor's Theater. This would serve as an inauspicious beginning to a dazzling career.

At the age of 18, she and her mother left for New York where Helen was offered a role in the chorus of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta H.M.S. Pinafore. Little is known of her early life except that she had some musical training in Chicago. Born in Clinton, Iowa in 1861, Helen Louise Leonard would become one of the most famous and beautiful actresses of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard) (December 4, 1861 - June 6, 1922) was an American actress and singer.