{{short description|American actress}} {{Infobox person | name = Marie Burroughs | image = Marie Burroughs (1891).png | image_size = 200px | caption = Marie Burroughs in ''The Illustrated American'' (1891), in the role of Mary Blenkarn in ''The Middleman'' | birth_date = September 26, 1866 | birth_place = San Jose, California | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=y|1926|3|4|1866|9|26}} | death_place = Santa Barbara, California | birth_name = Lillie Arrington | spouse = }}
'''Marie Burroughs''' (born '''Lillie Arrington'''; September 26, 1866 – March 4, 1926) was an American stage actress in the late 19th century. She played prominent roles in many plays, although she never became a first-tier star.
==Career== Burroughs was born in San Jose, California<ref name="bornandsterne">(14 April 1901). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1901-04-14/ed-1/seq-19/ Miss Marie Burroughs to Wed a New Yorkers], ''San Francisco Call''</ref> in 1866, and raised in San Francisco. By age 17, her promise as an actor was noted by actor Lawrence Barrett, and earned her an invitation to appear in ''The Rajah'' at the Madison Square Theatre in New York.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
She made her Broadway debut in 1884 and assumed her stage name. She was an immediate success, but her acting skills were still raw and it was said that her good looks carried her at first. Actor Louis Massen became her acting coach, and soon after her first husband.<ref name="illus2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=YnNNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA42 Our Gallery of Players: Marie Burroughts], ''The Illustrated American'', p. 42 (November 21, 1891)</ref><ref name="lipp">[https://books.google.com/books?id=RrcRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA363 Marie Burroughs], ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' pp. 363-64 (March 1893)</ref>
She had roles in many plays through the 1880s and 1890s, including in a number of plays supporting English actor Edward Smith Willard. She retired from the stage in 1901.<ref name="newint">[https://books.google.com/books?id=HjkrAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA711 The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol 3], p. 711 (1906)</ref><ref name="whoswho">Browne, Walter & E. De Roy Koch (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qaNmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA63 Who's who on the Stage 1908], p. 63 (B.W. Dodge & Company 1908)</ref>
Writer Willa Cather described Burroughs in 1895 as "not a very great actress, but she is great enough to be allowed to do her best unhindered."<ref name="cather1"/> Similarly, the ''Illustrated American'' said "that she will ever rank among the greatest actresses of the world, not even her most devoted admirers can expect, but she is so painstaking and so devoted to her profession that with each succeeding season she shows some improvement in her art."<ref name="illus1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=m0sMAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PR66 Gallery of Players from The Illustrated American], No. 6, p. 16 (1895)</ref>
In 1894, Burroughs' popularity was such that she was the vehicle for a volume of actor photographs called ''The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities'', published by A.N. Marquis & Company.<ref name="promo1">(6 May 1894). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84036012/1894-05-06/ed-1/seq-8/ Genius, Art, Beauty. Wonderful Collection of Portraits of Celebrated Actors and Actresses], ''The Anaconda Standard''</ref><ref name="promo2">(8 April 1894). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/1894-04-08/ed-1/seq-11/ A Great and Artistic Offer (advertisement)], ''The Salt Lake Herald''</ref>
==Personal life== [[File:Marie Burroughs c1894.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Burroughs c. 1894, photo by W. M. Morrison]] As a celebrity of her day, Burroughs' personal life drew public attention.<ref name="cather1">Curtin, William M. (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=yh84ZdaFpGEC&pg=PA193 The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews (1893-1902)], pp. 193-94 (1970)</ref><ref name="divart">(20 March 1895). [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1895-03-20/ed-1/seq-7/ Marie is Suing for a Divorce], ''San Francisco Call'', p. 7, col. 4.</ref> Her first husband, Louis F. Massen, was also her acting instructor who she met in ''The Rajah''; they divorced in 1895.<ref name="divorce1">(21 March 1895). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/03/21/102508679.pdf Marie Burroughs's Divorce Suit: She Would Never Have Begun It Had She Realized The Scandal], ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="div12">(30 August 1895). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/08/30/102470558.pdf Divorce for Marie Burroughs], ''The New York Times''</ref> In 1899, her engagement to Dr. Albert E. Sterne was announced, but their planned December 1899 was postponed due to illness on her part, and the engagement later ended.<ref name="bornandsterne"/> In 1901, she married Robert Barclay Macpherson, who died in 1907. In 1908, she married Francis M. Livingston.<ref name="whoswho"/><ref name="marr3">(19 March 1908). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/03/19/105004100.pdf Marie Burroughs to Wed. The Actress is to Marry Francis M. Livingston on April 8], ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="book">[https://books.google.com/books?id=RZFBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT9 The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Stage Celebrities] (1894)</ref><ref name="womenwho">Leonard, John William (ed.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=PMQ-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA149 Woman's Who Who of America (1914-1915)], p. 149 (1914)</ref>
Burroughs died in Santa Barbara, California, on March 4, 1926.<ref name="death1">[https://books.google.com/books?id=0cNQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Marie+Burroughs%22 The Stage Year Book], p. 233 (1927)</ref>
==Selected appearances== * ''The Rajah'' as Gladys (1884) * ''Alpine Roses'' as Irma (1884) * ''Hazel Kirke'' * ''Esmeralda'' * ''After the Ball'' * ''Mrs. Winthrop'' * ''Called Back'' * ''Elaine'' (1887) as Queen Guinevere * ''Saints and Sinners'' * ''The Middleman'' as Mary Blenkarn * ''Judah'' as Vashti Dethic (supporting Edward Smith Willard) * ''Wealth'' as Edith Ruddock * ''John Needham's Double'' (1891) as Kate Norbury * ''The Professor's Love Story'' as Lucy * ''The Profligate'' * ''The Battle of the Strong'' (1900) as Guida Landresse<ref name="whoswho"/>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{commons category|Marie Burroughs}} *{{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burroughs, Marie}} Category:1866 births Category:1926 deaths Category:19th-century American actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:Actresses from San Francisco