{{short description|American actress and dramatist}} {{Infobox person | name = Jane Cowl | image = Jane Cowl, stage actress (SAYRE 23254).jpg | image_size = | caption = Jane Cowl in 1920 | birth_name = Jane Bailey | birth_date = December 14, 1883 | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|06|22|1883|12|14}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | resting_place = Ashes buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = | other_names = "Crying Jane"<br>C. R. Avery<ref>{{cite book|last=Slide|first=Anthony|title=Eccentrics of Comedy|year=1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Ma.|isbn=978-0-8108-3534-4|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkkfEiXTb5gC&q=C.R.%20Avery%20jane%20cowl&pg=PA123}}</ref> | occupation = Actress, playwright | years_active = 1903–1950 | spouse = {{marriage|Adolph Klauber|1906|1930|end=separated}} }}
[[File: Olympic in New York cropped.jpg|right|thumb|''RMS Olympic'' June 1911 at New York, end of maiden voyage. Jane travelled from Southampton-to-New York for the maiden voyage.]] '''Jane Cowl''' (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright who was, in the words of author Anthony Slide, "notorious for playing lachrymose parts".<ref>Ben Iden Payne, ''A Life in a Wood O: Memoirs of the Theatre'' (Yale University Press, 1977), page 130.</ref> Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.<ref>"Jane Russell, A Howard Hughes Find, Is 1941's Best New Star Prospect", ''Life'', 20 January 1941, page 42</ref>
==Biography== left|225px|thumb|Photoplay: the Aristocrat of Motion Picture Magazines, Volume 9 1915 Cowl was born '''Jane Bailey''' in Boston, Massachusetts, to Charles Bailey and Grace Avery.<ref>''Jane Cowl: Her Precious and Momentary Glory'' page 36 by Richard Abe King c.2004 Retrieved October 27, 2014</ref><ref>''Notable American Women, 1607–1950; A Biographical Dictionary, Volume 2'' by Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer c. 1971</ref> She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York City,<ref>''The Cyclopedia of American Biography'', 1926, page 176</ref> followed by some courses at Columbia University.<ref name="britannica">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Cowl|title=Jane Cowl | American playwright and actress|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=Jan 10, 2020}}</ref>
She made her Broadway debut in New York City in ''Sweet Kitty Bellairs'' in 1903.<ref name="britannica"/> Her first leading role was ''Fanny Perry'' in 1909 in Leo Ditrichstein's ''Is Matrimony a Failure?'', produced by David Belasco, and then she played stock. This was followed by ''The Gamblers'' (1910), her first great success, and by ''Within the Law'' (1912), ''Common Clay'' (1915), and other successes (New International Encyclopedia). She was known for her interpretation of Shakespearean roles, playing Juliet, Cleopatra, and Viola on Broadway. She made Broadway history by playing ''Juliet'' over 1000 consecutive performances in 1923; critic George Jean Nathan declared her "not ... the best Juliet that I have seen, but she is by all odds the most charming".<ref>George Jean Nathan and Henry Louis Mencken, "Ethics for Dramatic Critics", ''The Smart Set'', Volume 70, (Ess Ess Publishing Co., 1922), page 134</ref> Cowl's affecting performances led her to be described as having a "voice with a tear."<ref>"Why Miss Cowl! Delighted!", ''Bell Telephone News'', Volume 8, 1918, page 15</ref> Biographer Charles Higham admired Cowl's "marvelous bovine eyes and exquisite genteel catch in the voice ..."<ref>Charles Higham, ''Kate: The Life of Katharine Hepburn'' (W. W. Norton, 2004), page 16</ref>
In June 1911, Cowl traveled on the maiden voyage from Southampton of the ''RMS Olympic''.<ref>[http://encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/june-1911-olympicss-maiden-voyage.3684/ Encyclopedia-Titanica.org] "June 1911: Olympic's Maiden Voyage; correspondence of June 21, 2002</ref>
In 1930, Cowl appeared with a young Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway production of Benn W. Levy's play ''Art and Mrs. Bottle'', and in 1934, she created the role of Lael Wyngate in S.N. Behrman's ''Rain from Heaven'' opposite actor John Halliday. Noting the challenges posed by Behrman's heightened dialogue, critic Gilbert Gabriel noted approvingly that their scenes together were "models of aristocratic parlando."<ref>Gilbert W. Gabriel, "''Rain from Heaven''—Theatre Guild's Yule Present in S. N. Behrman's Play". ''New York American'': 26 December 1934.</ref> She also starred in Noël Coward's ''Easy Virtue''. [[File:Jane Cowl in “The Garden of Lies”.jpg|thumb|Advertisement for Jane Cowl in the 1915 Universal film ''The Garden of Lies'']] Cowl was the lead in two silent films, ''The Garden of Lies'' (1915) and ''The Spreading Dawn'' (1917). Then, after nearly 30 years away from films, she returned for several supporting roles in the 1940s. Her final film was ''Payment on Demand'' (1951) with Bette Davis.
Jane Cowl died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 1950, aged 66. Following cremation, her ashes were buried at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
A biography about Cowl, titled ''Jane Cowl: Her Precious and Momentary Glory'', was published in 2004.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Jane Cowl: Her Precious and Momentary Glory|last=King|first=Richard|publisher=Author House|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4107-6505-5}}</ref> It was written by Richard Abe King, who had formerly worked with Cowl.
==Family== alt=|right|220x220px|From the Green Book Magazine cover 1912|border On June 18, 1906, at her father's apartment on Riverside Drive and 95th Street in New York City, Cowl married Adolph Edward Klauber, the drama critic of ''The New York Times''.<ref>''Klauber—Cowl'', ''The New York Times'', 19 June 1906</ref> A former actor and son of a prominent Jewish photographer in Louisville, Kentucky, Klauber left the ''Times'' in 1918 to become a theatrical producer and manager. He and Cowl separated in 1930, shortly after his health began to fail. Klauber returned to live "in strict seclusion" in Louisville, where he died in 1933.<ref>"Adolph Klauber, Producer, Dies", ''The New York Times'', 8 December 1933</ref> The couple had no children.
==Works== Cowl wrote several plays in collaboration with Jane Murfin. They often used the joint pseudonym '''Allan Langdon Martin'''. Their works include:
* ''Lilac Time'' - 1917 * ''At Daybreak'' - 1917 * ''Information Please'' - 1918 * ''Smilin' Through'' - 1919 * ''The Jealous Moon'' - 1928
==Filmography== *''The Garden of Lies'' (1915) *''The Spreading Dawn'' (1917) *''Once More, My Darling'' (1949) *''No Man of Her Own'' (1950) *''The Secret Fury'' (1950) *''Payment on Demand'' (1951)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0184785}} * [http://www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=jane+cowl Jane Cowl at Women in American History website] * {{Find a Grave|5289}} * {{IBDB name}} * [https://www.ibdb.com/Organization/View/4079 Allan Langdon Martin (pseudonym)] at the Internet Broadway Database * [http://archives.nypl.org/mss/682 Jane Cowl papers, 1907-1949 (bulk 1927-1945)], held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts * [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=jane+cowl Jane Cowl] portrait gallery at NYP Library * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303185649/http://www.geh.org/ar/strip88/htmlsrc/muray_sum00016.html#77:0188:0569 first of three pages of photos shot by Nickolas Muray] devoted to Jane Cowl(Wayback Machine) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20121127110513/http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#p=1&q=jane+cowl Jane Cowl] photo gallery at Corbis *[http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/sayre/searchterm/jane%20cowl/field/all/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ Jane Cowl] University of Washington, Sayre collection *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140916204050/http://www.murfingenealogy.com/Murfin%20Images/Jane%20Murfin.jpg photo of Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin](Wayback Machine)
{{Smilin' Through}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowl, Jane}} Category:1883 births Category:1950 deaths Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:Actresses from Boston Category:Actresses from Greater Los Angeles Category:Writers from Greater Los Angeles Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery Category:Columbia University alumni Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni