Ada Rehan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ada Rehan
|
|
|---|---|
Ada Rehan in 1897
|
|
| Born |
Bidelia Crehan
June 12, 1857 |
| Died | January 8, 1916 (aged 58) New York City
|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Relatives | Arthur Byron (nephew) |
| Signature | |
.png) |
|
Ada Rehan (born Bidelia Crehan; June 12, 1857 – January 8, 1916) was a famous American actress and comedian. She was known for her unique acting style in the late 1800s.
Contents
Early Life and Acting Career
Ada Rehan was born Bidelia Crehan in Limerick city, Ireland. She was one of five children. When she was a small child, her family moved to the United States. They settled in Brooklyn, New York. The family's last name was later changed to Rehan.
Ada's brothers and sisters also worked in the theatre. Her sisters Harriet and Kate became actresses before her. Kate married an actor named Oliver Doud Byron. Their son, Arthur Byron, was Ada's nephew and also became an actor. Ada's two brothers, William and Arthur, worked behind the scenes in theatre business.
Ada's first time on stage was in Newark, New Jersey. She filled in for a sick actress in a small role. Her performance was good, so her family decided she should keep acting. In her next play, she was accidentally called Ada C. Rehan, and the name stuck!
Ada then joined a theatre group in Louisville. She stayed there for one season (1875–76). After that, she performed in cities like Baltimore and Albany. She played supporting roles alongside famous actors like Edwin Booth.
Becoming Famous with Augustin Daly
In April 1879, a successful theatre manager named Augustin Daly noticed Ada Rehan. She was performing in one of his plays called Pique. Later that year, Ada joined Daly's theatre company in New York. Ada continued to work with Daly for twenty years until he passed away. They had huge professional success together.
Rehan was part of Daly's famous group called the "Big Four." The other members were John Drew, Jr., Mrs. Ann Hartley Gilbert, and James Lewis. Daly carefully guided them. The group became very popular with critics and audiences. They were known for their comedies, including plays by William Shakespeare and German farces.
The "Big Four" often played similar types of characters. Drew and Rehan usually played the romantic heroes and heroines. Lewis and Gilbert took on the older, more unique roles. Ada Rehan became the star of Daly's company. She was especially popular in "breeches roles" where she dressed as a man. For her audiences, she represented an ideal of womanhood.
One writer, William Winter, said that Ada put a part of herself into every role she played. He wrote that "Her soul is given to her profession."
Daly and Rehan's most famous play together was The Taming of the Shrew in 1887. It was a huge hit in both New York and London. It ran for 121 performances, which was a big achievement for a play back then.
Ada Rehan was very popular in the 1880s and 1890s. She performed in over 200 different roles. Famous writers like George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde admired her. Women everywhere tried to copy how she spoke, how she acted, and even her dresses. Newspapers reported on the trend of women imitating her speech. Ladies' hats were named after her, and dressmakers offered her free costumes. They wanted their designs to be seen by the public.
Retirement
When Augustin Daly died in 1899, Ada Rehan stopped acting for a whole year. She returned to the stage with a play called Sweet Nell of Old Drury. She also brought back some of her famous roles from her time with Daly's company. However, her performances after Daly's death were not as strong as they used to be.
In a letter, Ada Rehan wrote that she felt "very indifferent toward the future." She worried that if she continued acting, it would be more like a "machine" than an "artiste." After a few more attempts that were not well-received, Ada Rehan officially retired from acting in 1905.
Death
Ada Rehan spent her last years living between her homes in New York and the English coast. She passed away in New York in 1916. Her ashes are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn.
Legacy
Ada Rehan was greatly admired in both America and Europe. She performed in many cities, including Paris, Berlin, London, and Dublin. When she died, newspapers across the country wrote about her passing. The New York Times published a major obituary.
Augustin Daly used Ada Rehan as the model for the symbol of his theatre. It was a picture of Comedy, one of the Greek Muses.
Ada Rehan was also the model for a silver statue of Justice. This statue was part of Montana's mining exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The statue was later melted down in 1903. More than 25 years after Ada Rehan's death, a World War II Liberty ship was named after her, the USS Ada Rehan.
Roles
- Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing
- Rosalind in As You Like It
- Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew
- Viola in Twelfth Night
- Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal
- Valentine Osprey in The Railroad of Love
- Peggy in The Country Girl
- Kate Verity in The Squire
- Nancy Brasher in Nancy and Company
- Maid Marian in Tennyson's Foresters
- Roxanne in Daly's presentation of Cyrano de Bergerac
- Portia in The Merchant of Venice
- Helen in Daly's presentation of "Midsummer Night's Dream"
She also played the main female characters in:
- Cinderella at School
- Needles and Pins
- A Wooden Spoon
- After Business Hours
- Our English Friend
Images for kids
-
Rehan's autograph on a theatre poster
-
A scene from "The School for Scandal" with Ada Rehan and Anne Hartley Gilbert, around 1891–1895.
-
Ada Rehan
-
John Singer Sargent's 1895 portrait of Ada Rehan from The Met collection
.jpg)
