{{Short description|American actress (1866–1937)}} {{Infobox person | name = Helen Lowell | image = HelenLowell1909.tif | image_size = | caption = Helen Lowell from a 1909 publication | birth_name = Helen Lowell Robb | birth_date = June 2, 1866 | birth_place = New York, U.S. | death_date = June 29, 1937 (aged 71) | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1884 to 1937 (stage and film) }} '''Helen Lowell''', born '''Helen Lowell Robb''' (1866–1937), was an American stage and film actress.<ref>Goble p.510</ref>
==Life== Lowell was born in New York on June 2, 1866, to William and Mary Robb. In 1884, she debuted in the title role of Iolanthe at the Academy of Music in New York. At the age of 21, her mother died. She was known for playing the role of Mrs. Errol in ''Little Lord Fauntleroy''. In 1895, she played Charlotte Corday. She appeared in J.M.Barrie's ''Quality Street'', creating the role of Susan Throssell in the first New York production with Maude Adams, who starred as Phoebe Throssell.<ref name="Nissen2016"/>
In October 1903, she appeared on stage in ''Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch'' in Louisville, Kentucky. She toured Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the U.S. for the next seven years playing Miss Hazy "in the Cabbage Patch".<ref name="Nissen2016">{{cite book|author=Axel Nissen|title=Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9PIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA116|date=12 August 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-9732-4|pages=116–}}</ref>
She had a successful career as a stage comedienne, appearing on Broadway in ''The Torch-Bearers'' (1922), then she went to Hollywood in 1934 where she appeared in ''Side Streets'', which was a Warner Bros film. She became known as the first choice for playing middle-aged women.<ref name="Nissen2016"/>
On June 29, 1937, Lowell was found dead in her hotel room in Hollywood.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |title=Miss Lowell, Film and Stage Actress |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/06/30/archives/miss-lowell-film-and-stage-actress-comedienne-whose-career-had.html |access-date=March 16, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=June 30, 1937 |page=24|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Theater== * ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' * ''Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch'' as Miss Hazey * ''Cappy''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mtlkgvvedYAC&dq=norval.keedwell&pg=PA756 | title=Munsey's Magazine for | year=1919 }}</ref>
==Selected filmography== * ''Isn't Life Wonderful'' (1924) as The Grandmother * ''Side Streets'' (1934) as Tillie * ''The Merry Frinks'' (1934) as Grandma Frink * ''Party Wire'' (1935) as Nettie Putnam * ''The Goose and the Gander'' (1935) as Aunt Julia * ''Strike Me Pink'' (1936) as Hattie 'Ma' Carson * ''I'd Give My Life'' (1936) as Mrs. Bancroft Sr. * ''Wild Brian Kent'' (1936) Aunt Sue Prentice * ''Four Days' Wonder'' (1936) * ''Snowed Under'' (1936) as Mrs. Canterbury * ''Michael O'Halloran'' (1937) as Hettie
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0523089}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowell, Helen}} Category:1866 births Category:1937 deaths Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:20th-century American actresses