Kate Mayhew

{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Kate Mayhew | image = File:Kate Mayhew as M'liss in c. 1878.png | image_size = | caption = Kate Mayhew as M'liss in c. 1878 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1853|9|2|mf=y}} | birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana | death_date = {{Death date and age|1944|5|16|1853|9|2|mf=y}} | death_place = New York | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1870s–1936 | spouse = | children = }}

'''Kate Mayhew''' (September 2, 1853 – June 16, 1944), also known as Katie Mayhew and Kate Mayhew Widmer,<ref name=":0" /> was an American stage and radio actress. She first performed on stage as a four year old child at the Metropolitan Opera House in Indianapolis, and her first New York performance was at Niblo's Garden Theatre in 1873.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Roger A. |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Performing_the_American_Frontier_1870_19/dHitfBUfKdEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Kate%20mayhew%22&pg=PA105&printsec=frontcover |title=Performing the American Frontier, 1870-1906 |date=2001-08-16 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79320-9 |language=en}}</ref>

Mayhew became involved in producing plays, and owned the rights to ''M'Liss'' written by Clay M. Greene (adapted from a story by Bret Harte), in the 1870s.<ref name=":0" /> Mayhew performed the title role herself at the Grand Opera House in New York in September 1878, however, a legal battle over rights to the play eventually saw Annie Pixley take up the role to critical acclaim.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/atho/atho.detail.people.aspx?personcode=per0061647 |title=Kate Mayhew |website=North American Theatre Online}}</ref>

She performed in productions of Shakespeare, playing the roles of Juliet's Mother in Romeo and Juliet, and Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, in Hamlet.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Street |first=James |date=1938 |title=Professional Mothers |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Guide/1938/Radio-Guide-38-05-14.pdf |journal=Radio Guide |volume=7 |issue=30 |pages=2–3}}</ref>

In the 1890s, she appeared in Oriental parts.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

She was long on Broadway in support of most of the well-known names.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} She made films, and also voiced characters for radio programmes.<ref name=":1" />

One of her last Broadway appearances was in the 1934 stage production of ''The Farmer Takes a Wife'' with Henry Fonda and June Walker.<ref name="necrology">{{cite book|title=Silent Film Necrology|page=359|edition=2nd|date=2001|first=Eugene M.|last=Vazzana|isbn=0-7864-1059-0}}</ref>

She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and died in New York aged 90.<ref name="necrology" />

Mayhew donated playbills and other theatre ephemera to the New York Public Library in 1930.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Library |first=New York Public |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_the_New_York_Public_Library_fo/7OZFAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Kate%20Mayhew%22&dq=%22Kate%20Mayhew%22%20%22Broadway%22&printsec=frontcover |title=Report of the New York Public Library for ... |date=1930 |publisher=The Library |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected filmography== *''Tongues of Flame'' (1924)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IBDB name|52003}} *{{IMDb name|0562672}} *[https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C593&keywords=kate+mayhew portrait gallery](NY Public Library, Billy Rose collection)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhew, Kate}} Category:1853 births Category:1944 deaths Category:Actresses from Indianapolis Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:20th-century American actresses