Theatre & dance
Katharine Cornell
1893–1974 · stage actress, producer
Broadway's 'First Lady of the Theatre', who learned her craft in Jessie Bonstelle's stock company on the stage of Detroit's Garrick Theatre around 1918–1920.
- Born
Berlin, Germany- Died
Tisbury, Massachusetts
aged 81- Also known as
- The First Lady of the Theatre
- Detroit years
- 1918–1920
- Field
- Theatre & dance
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Cornell was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, where Jessie Bonstelle ran one of her two stock companies. After two seasons with New York's Washington Square Players, she joined Bonstelle's troupe, which played summers at the Garrick Theatre on Griswold Street in Detroit and in Buffalo. The weekly grind of a new play every week gave her the leading-lady experience she lacked, in pieces such as The Gypsy Trail and Cheating Cheaters, and in 1919 Bonstelle took her to London to play Jo in Little Women, where critics singled her out. Bonstelle, who counted her among her discoveries, launched her toward Broadway stardom. Cornell went on to The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1931), a Juliet and a Tony-winning Cleopatra, and with her husband Guthrie McClintic produced her own plays. She appeared in only one film, as herself.
Highlights
- Played leading roles with Jessie Bonstelle's company at Detroit's Garrick Theatre
- Played Jo in Bonstelle's London production of Little Women (1919)
- Starred as Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1931)
- First winner of the Drama League Award (1935) and a Tony winner for Antony and Cleopatra
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1918–1920
Garrick Theatre (site)
Demolished · 1875–1929
Home of Bonstelle's summer company, where Cornell played weekly leading roles; demolished in 1928–1929.