{{Short description|Hungarian-born American stage actress, director and playwright}} thumb|Josephine Victor, from a 1916 publication. thumb|Josephine Victor, in a 1920 publication '''Josephine Victor''' (born '''Josephine Gunczler'''; June 28, 1885 – 1963) was a Hungarian-born American stage actress, director, and playwright.
==Early life== Victor was born in the Tokay Hills in Hungary in 1885,<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617285/josephine_victor_in_secret_orchard/ "Miss Josephine Victor"] ''Washington Herald'' (November 18, 1907): 9. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> and moved to New York City as a child. She may have attended the Wheatcroft School of Acting on a scholarship.<ref name="Joan">[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617019/josephine_victor_in_maid_of_france/ "Josephine Victor in Joan of Arc Play"] ''Evening Public Ledger'' (June 15, 1918): 11. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> She used her brother Victor's first name for a surname when she began acting.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1126&dat=19130914&id=211RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SmYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4332,2142454 "News and Gossip of Stageland"] ''The Gazette Times'' (September 14, 1913): 34.</ref> She began performing with the Howard Kyle Company,<ref name="Kreizenbeck">Alan Kreizenbeck, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAEDC2cn1RYC&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA171 ''Zoe Akins: Broadway Playwright''] (Greenwood Publishin 2004): 171-172. {{ISBN|9780313298158}}</ref> and made headlines as early as 1906, when her costume caught fire on stage, and she doused the flames without breaking character.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617707/josephine_victor_caught_fire_on_stage/ "Girl in Flames Says Her Line without Break"] ''Atlanta Constitution'' (January 17, 1906): 1. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref>
==Career== On Broadway she debuted in ''The Secret Orchard'' by Channing Pollock (1908), and appeared in ''The Temperamental Journey'' (1913),<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6616975/beauty_advice_from_josephine_victor/ "Beauty"] ''Omaha Daily Bee'' (October 27, 1913): 9. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> ''The Yellow Ticket'' (1914),<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617415/josephine_victor_in_the_yellow_ticket/ "Shift in 'The Yellow Ticket'"] ''The Sun'' (June 9, 1914): 9. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> ''The Bargain'' by Hermann Georg Scheffauer (1915),<ref>Louis V. De Foe, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U2YhAQAAMAAJ&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA690 "Personal Triumphs of the Season"] ''Green Book Magazine'' (April 1916): 690-691.</ref> ''Just a Woman'' by Eugene Walter (1916),<ref>Gerald Bordman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mmr35sTB0AoC&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA41 ''American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914-1930''] (OUP USA 1995): 41. {{ISBN|9780195090789}}</ref> ''Martinique'' by Laurence Eyre (1920),<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lNlNAQAAMAAJ&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA509 ''Theatre Magazine''] (June 1920): 509, 526-527.</ref> ''Dolly Jordan'' by Ben Iden Payne (1922),<ref>Gerald Bordman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mmr35sTB0AoC&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA188 ''American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914-1930''] (OUP USA 1995): 188. {{ISBN|9780195090789}}</ref> ''The Cup'' (1923),<ref>Thomas S. Hischak, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeiySJZXF4C&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA99 ''Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows Through 2007''] (McFarland 2007): 99-100. {{ISBN|9780786453092}}</ref> ''Judgment Day'' by Elmer Rice (1934),<ref name="Kreizenbeck" /> ''Wise Tomorrow'' (1937),<ref>Gerald Bordman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tH4RDAAAQBAJ&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=PA157 ''American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1930-1969''] (): 156-157. ISBN</ref> and finally ''Summer Night'' (1939).<ref>Arthur Pollock, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617606/josephine_victor_in_summer_night/ "Summer Night at the St. James"] ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' (November 30, 1939): 11. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> She is credited as director of one play, ''Doctor X'' (1931), a "mystery thriller".<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617648/josephine_victor_as_director_of_doctor/ "And the Joke was on the Manager"] ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' (January 11, 1931): 28. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> She toured the United States with a vaudeville show in 1921.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pu1LAQAAIAAJ&dq=Josephine+Victor+actress&pg=RA1-PA242 "Heard on Broadway"] ''Theatre Magazine'' (October 1922): 242.</ref> She also appeared on the London stage, in ''Pelican'' by F. Tennyson Jesse (1924), and in a few films.
Victor was also a playwright.<ref>Brenner, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617142/josephine_victor_a_playwright_1936/ "Memory Lane"] ''Amarillo Globe'' (June 25, 1936): 7. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref> In 1910 she co-wrote a play, ''Ashes'', with Eleanor Maud Crane. Later, as Josephine Victor Reid, she wrote ''The Prize Pig's Tea-party'' (1934), a play, ''How to Get Rich'' (1930). She also co-wrote two plays, ''Clay Pigeon'' (1936, with Marjorie Paradis) and ''Read about Laura Keene'' (1937, with I. S. Strouse). She collaborated with Laurence Eyre on creating the 1920 play ''Martinique'', but was not credited as its co-author.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6617486/josephine_victor_1920/ "Teary Plaudits Disturb Miss Josephine Victor"] ''New York Herald'' (May 9, 1920): 47. via Newspapers.com{{open access}}</ref>
==Personal life== Josephine Victor married Francis E. Reid, a publicist and drama critic.<ref>Helen Ten Broek, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HdlNAQAAMAAJ&dq=Josephine+Victor+Reid&pg=PA24 "Is Stage Matrimony a Failure?"] ''Theatre Magazine'' (Midsummer 1920): 24.</ref> She was widowed in 1933.<ref>A. H. Phillips, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uhJbAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Josephine+V.+Reid%22&pg=PA157 "Obituary: Francis E. Reid '87"] ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'' 34(November 3, 1933): 157.</ref> She died in 1963, aged 78 years.
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1946|| ''The Stranger'' || Minor Role || Uncredited |- |1947|| ''Desire Me'' || Woman || Uncredited, (final film role) |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Josephine Victor}} *The National Portrait Gallery (London) has [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp53980/josephine-victor four photographs of Josephine Victor], all portraits from 1924 by Bassano Ltd *{{IMDb name|0896123}} *[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/josephine-victor-16404 Josephine Victor] at IBDb *[https://web.archive.org/web/20180912091848/http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt7gxd0qsz74_233_1 portrait] with Helen Ware and Henrietta Metcalf 1923
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor, Josephine}} Category:1885 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Hungarian actresses Category:American actresses Category:Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States