International Dictionary of Theatre, Volume 3: Actors, Directors, and Designers. St. James Press, 1996.
One of the most popular actresses of her age, Maude Adams was among the first US performers to emphasize personal charm and virtue over classical acting skills. While never attaining the critical stature of Charlotte Cushman, Mary Anderson, Fanny Janauschek, or Helena Modjeska, Adams was the top box-office draw in the country, largely due to her performances in the plays of J. M. Barrie.
Adams was the daughter of James Kiskadden, a Salt Lake City businessman, and Ansenath Ann (née Adams) Kiskadden, an actress in a local Mormon stock company. Adams, who eventually took her mother's maiden name, made her theatrical debut at the age of nine months, carried on stage by her mother in a production of The Lost Child. In 1875, the family moved to San Francisco, where Adams began a career as a child star, performing her first professional role as Little Schneider in Fritz, Our German Cousin. She returned to Salt Lake City in 1882 to attend the Collegiate Institute, having outgrown her child characters, but within a year her schooling was cut short when her father died and she joined her mother on the theatrical circuit. In 1888, Maude Adams made her adult debut at the Star Theatre in New York City, where she was discovered by E. H. Sothern and cast as Jessie Deane in Lord Chumley. The next year she was working for Charles Hoyt and in 1890 she signed with Charles Frohman, in whose company she became a leading star. Her early parts included the leading role of Dora in Men and Women, which was written especially for her by David Belasco and H. C. De Mille at Frohman's insistence.
It was not surprising, therefore, when Adams was paired with the great romantic comedian John Drew in H. C. De Mille's The Lost Paradise. From 1892 to 1896 she was the female lead in Drew's company, establishing a loyal following and creating the image of wholesome innocence and sprightly whimsy that became her hallmark. It was her performance in 1896 of the title character in Rosemary that first attracted the attention of J. M. Barrie. Upon Frohman's urging, Barrie adapted his novel The Little Minister for the stage, casting Adams in the starring role of Lady Babbie. The 1897 premiere at the Empire Theatre was both a critical and financial success and lasting starring status was assured. Over the next 20 years, Adams continued to win leading roles in Barrie's plays, performing in the US premieres of Quality Street, What Every Woman Knows, The Legend of Leonora, and A Kiss for Cinderella. But it was her performance of the title role in Peter Pan, a part written specifically for her, for which she is now best remembered.
Peter Pan was the perfect vehicle for Adams's stage persona. While not a striking beauty, according to the prevailing standards, she had a boyish countenance and elfin-like presence that suited the role exactly. Her portrayal of the boy who refused to grow up highlighted her innate performance qualities, while she in turn defined the role in perpetuity. The role also established her fondness for androgynous characters, reflected in her subsequent performances of Viola in Twelfth Night, Joan of Arc, Rosalind in As You Like It, and the title roles in L'Aiglon and Chantecler. While less successful in Shakespeare, she was praised for her interpretations of Rostand's works, in which her melodic voice and youthful energy combined to great effect.
Her early retirement from the stage in 1918 at the height of her career is attributed to both ill-health and a growing dissatisfaction with Frohman's firm after his death on the Lusitania in 1915. For the next 14 years she lived a fiercely private and reclusive life, devoting her energies to her alternate passions in theatrical lighting and technical theatre. In the early 1920's, in association with General Electric, she developed a prototype of the kleig light, a standard instrument in modern cinematic photography. Despite numerous offers, she remained in retirement until 1931, when Otis Skinner persuaded her to play Portia to his Shylock in a national tour of The Merchant of Venice. She last performed on stage in a 1934 summer stock production of Twelfth Night, playing Maria. She then turned her attentions to education and for 10 years she taught acting and directed plays as a founding faculty member of the theatre department at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
Although Adams never married, she projected a public image of her private life that was beyond reproach. Her popularity rested largely on her perceived innocence and purity. Her skill as a performer was her instinctive ability to capitalize on her public image. While her performances lacked the passion required for romantic leads, her talent for emotional sincerity, playfulness, and youthful sentiment captured the US audience as no other performer had.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
US actress. Born Maude Adams Kiskadden in Salt Lake City, Utah, 11 November 1872. Educated at schools in San Francisco and subsequently at the Collegiate Institute, Salt Lake City, 1882-83. Stage debut at nine months with her parents' Salt Lake City theatre company; first major success, aged five, in Fritz, Our German Cousin, 1878; New York debut, Star Theatre, 1888; played regularly opposite John Drew under the management of Charles Frohman, 1890-1915; emerged as a star in plays by J. M. Barrie, from 1897; left professional stage, 1918; lighting consultant, General Electric, 1920's; returned to stage, 1931; final retirement, 1937. Professor of Dramatic Arts, Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri, 1937-50. LL.D: University of Wisconsin, 1927. Died in Tannersville, New York, 17 July 1953.
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