{{Use British English|date=April 2019}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2019}} [[File:AlexandraCarlisle.tif|thumb|Alexandra Carlisle, portrait by Alfred Cheney Johnston (1922)]] '''Alexandra Carlisle''' (born '''Alexandra Elizabeth Swift''', 15 January 1886 – 21 April 1936) was an English actress and suffragist who settled in the United States. She was also known in the U.S. as '''Alexandra Carlisle Pfeiffer''', adding the name of her third husband.
==Life== Born in 1886 at Hackney, Middlesex, Carlisle was the daughter of Henry Swift, a schoolmaster, and his wife Alexandra.<ref name=sb>[http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/carlisle/carlisle-a.html Alexandra Carlisle] at stagebeauty.net, accessed 31 July 2016</ref>
In 1903, she was Audrey in a stage production of ''As You Like It'' and Maria in ''Twelfth Night''. In March 1907, she played the lead in Gladys Buchanan Unger's play ''Mr. Sheridan'' at the Garrick Theatre.<ref>Reviewed in ''Lloyds Weekly News'' dated 10 March 1907</ref> In September 1908, at the Garrick Theatre, she played the title role in Hubert Henry Davies's play ''The Mollusc'', with Joseph Coyne.<ref>"The Mollusc", review in ''The New York Times'' dated 2 September 1908</ref> Also in 1908, she appeared in two Shakespeare productions by Herbert Beerbohm Tree: as Olivia in ''Twelfth Night'' and as Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice''.<ref>''The English Illustrated Magazine'', Volume 39 (Macmillan and Co., 1908), p. 183</ref>
In 1905, Carlisle had married Victor Herbert Miller at Maidenhead.<ref>Register of Marriages for the Maidenhead registration district, Volume 2c, p. 873, Alexandra Elizabeth C. Swift and Victor Herbert Miller</ref> In 1907, she petitioned for divorce,<ref>[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8000646 Divorce Court File 7363. Appellant: Alexandra Elizabeth Carlisle Miller. Respondent: Victor Herbert Miller. Type: Wife's petition for divorce] at nationalarchives.gov.uk, accessed 1 August 2016</ref> and in 1908 she married Joseph Coyne, her leading man in ''The Mollusc''. This marriage also ended in divorce.<ref name=sb/>
On 17 May 1911, Carlisle played the part of Georgina Vesey in a royal command performance of the play ''Money'' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for King George V, and the Emperor and Empress of Germany.<ref>Lionel Carson, ed., ''The Stage Year Book'' (Stage Offices, 1912), p. 107</ref>
In 1912, in Marylebone, London, Carlisle married Albert Pfeiffer, a dental surgeon from the U.S.<ref>Register of Marriages for the Marylebone registration district, Volume 1a, p. 136, Alexandra E C Swift and Albert Pfeiffer.</ref> from Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1914, Carlisle's mother died, and in 1915 she settled in the U.S., becoming a notable speaker for women's suffrage and for the Republican Party. By her third marriage, she had one daughter, Elizabeth Ann Pfeiffer.<ref name=sb/> During 1917 she starred in ''The Country Cousin'' on Broadway.<ref name="bde090417">{{cite news |title=Roosevelt Critic Of This New Play |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=September 4, 1917 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In the Spring 1920, Carlisle directed the show ''Barnum Was Right'' for Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club.<ref>Claude Moore Fuess, ''Calvin Coolidge - The Man from Vermont'', p. 152</ref> At the Republican National Convention of 1920, she was the main speaker for Massachusetts and seconded the nomination of Calvin Coolidge as the party's candidate for vice president.<ref>Edward Connery Lathem, ''Your son, Calvin Coolidge: a selection of letters from Calvin Coolidge to his father'' (Vermont Historical Society, 1968), p. 165: "Mrs Alexandra Carlisle Pfeiffer made a distinct hit with her speech seconding the nomination of the Governor. She caught the delegates in good humor with her first line - 'Calvin Coolidge: a real American, born on the Fourth of July'..."</ref><ref name=yates>Alethea A. Yates, ''Bedford'' (Arcadia Publishing, 2013), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CepQOIR4Ve0C&pg=PA117 p. 117]</ref> In 1926, Carlisle directed a production of ''The Tragedy of Nan'' at Chicago's Goodman Theatre that ran from 25 March to 10 April.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Goodman Theatre Archive. Production History Files, Part 1 |url=https://www.chipublib.org/fa-goodman-theatre-archive-production-history-files-1 |access-date=2023-10-27 |website=www.chipublib.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 1923, Carlisle's third marriage was dissolved, and she then married J. Elliot Jenkins, an American engineer. In 1934, Jenkins committed suicide.<ref name=sb/> As well as taking occasional film roles, Carlisle continued to work on Broadway, including playing the role of Lady Macduff in a production of ''Macbeth'' in October 1935.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/alexandra-carlisle-67022 Alexandra Carlisle] at the Internet Broadway Database, accessed 1 August 2016</ref> She died of a heart attack on 21 April 1936 in the Hotel Astor in New York City,<ref>"Alexandra Carlisle Dead" in ''Motion Picture Herald'' dated 2 May 1936</ref> and was buried in Shawsheen Cemetery.<ref name=yates/>
==Filmography== * 1917: ''The Tides of Fate'' as Fanny Lawson * 1934: ''Half a Sinner'' as Mrs. Mary Clarke
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp65481/alexandra-carlisle Alexandra Carlisle (1886-1936), Actress] at the National Portrait Gallery *[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/alexandra-carlisle-67022 Alexandra Carlisle] at the Internet Broadway Database
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlisle, Alexandra}} Category:1886 births Category:1936 deaths Category:English film actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:English suffragists Category:Actors from the London Borough of Hackney Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:Burials at Shawsheen Cemetery Category:Actresses from London Category:People from Hackney Central