Cecilia Loftus (1876-1943)

Cecilia Loftus (1876-1943)

Cissie Loftus was born Marie Cecilia Brown in Glasgow, Scotland (UK) on October 22, 1876. Her parents were Ben Brown and Marie Loftus, popular variety artists. She was educated at the Convent of The Holy Child in Blackpool, England.

Later, she accompanied her mother touring the variety halls, where she learned much about the business whilst acting as her mother's dresser. Not surprisingly, she became determined to follow in her mother's footsteps, and as she had a pretty voice and a clever ear for mimicry she seemed well equiped for the calling.

She made her stage debut at the tender age of fifteen, singing a ballad entitled "Molly Darling" at the Alhambra in Belfast, in October 1892, where she was well received. She made her first appearance on the London stage at the Oxford Music Hall on 15th July 1893, and on the 31st of July appeared at the Gaiety giving her impersonations in a revue entitled "In Town". It was also at the Gaiety, on 28th October, 1893, that she made her first appearance on the legitimate stage as 'Haidee' in "Don Juan". Striking both in appearance and talent, she quickly attracted many admirers, one of the most ardent being Max Beerbohm - the caricaturist and parodist who was also press agent for his brother's theatrical company.

Through Beerbohm, she met the Irish novelist and historian, Justin Huntly McCarthy (son of the reknowned Irish MP and novelist, Justin McCarthy), with whom she eloped in 1894 whilst playing a theatrical engagement. She was still only seventeen when the couple were married.

In January 1895, she crossed to the USA with her husband and made her first appearance on the American stage in Vaudeville at Koster and Bial's in New York that same month. She was an immediate hit and stayed on to play in "The Highwayman" at the Lyceum in New York in April of that year. Returning to England she went back to the music halls in which she would regularly appear almost exclusively for the next five years. But Cissie was determined to be a more versatile performer than her mother had been, and for the next few years turned her back on the music halls to concentrate on the legitimate stage.

That was in February, 1900, when she again crossed to the USA to make her debut in comic opera as 'Bettina' in "The Mascot" a the American Theatre. She then joined Madame Modjeska's company, appearing as 'Leonie' in "The Ladies Battle". Madame Modjeska took Cissie under her wing, helping her realise her ambition to be a serious actress by arranging special matinee performances of "Twelth Night" just so that Cissie could play 'Viola'. That was her first Shakespearean role, and it was soon followed by 'Hero' in "Much Ado About Nothing", and 'Audrey' in "As You Like It". In September, 1901, after a short spell in the employ of Daniel Frohman, she joined E.H. Sothern to play opposite him as his leading lady. Her greatest success at this time was as 'Katherine' in "If I Were King", a part that had been specially penned for her by husband.

Over the next few years she alternated between England and the USA with considerable success. Other notable roles in which she appeared in that time time were 'Margaret' in "Faust", and 'Nerissa' and 'Jessica' in "The Merchant of Venice" with Henry Irving (London 1902); 'Ophelia' in "Hamlet" with Sothern (New York, 1903); the title role in "Peter Pan" (London, 1905); and others.

In 1904, Cissie's marriage ended in divorce, and in 1907 her career seemed to be taking a downturn when she was involved in a run of theatrical failures. Worst of these was "The Lancers" in which she 'starred' with Lawrence D'Orsy. From the opening night it was clear the production had problems, but she refused to give up on it. Despite suffering at the time from severe ear trouble, she persisted in undertaking a gruelling tour. But the stress and long hours affected her health and on January 1st, 1908, she underwent an operation for appendicitis at Miss Allston's private hospital in New York. For a time her condition was described as 'dangerous', and although she quickly recovered, this was to be the start of a long battle she would endure with ill-health, eventually leading to a far more serious condition.

But for the time being her career continued unabated as she bounced back from the previous year's disappointments. Later that year, whilst on tour in chicago, she met Alonza Higbee Waterman, a successful physician whod practiced in Chicago and New York. He followed her back to England and proposed, and the couple were married at Kensington registry office on July 9, 1909. She gave birth to a son, Peter James Barrie Waterman, named after Peter Pan and its author, on December 1st, 1910. Fittingly, Peter made his first appearance on stage as a babe-in-arms in Peter Pan the following year. Her second marriage was to prove little more successful than the first however, ending in divorce in 1914.

Professionally, however, she went from strength to strength, a reknowned star on both sides of the Atlantic, continuing to make crossings almost annually. But then, suddenly, after a few scattered appearances in 1915, she disappeared from the stage totally, and no-one knew why. She was not heard of again until 1922, when sensationally the London newspapers carried stories of her arraignment for possession of narcotics. She had been arrested outside a pharmacy, and charged with using a forged prescription to obtain morphine. Found to be in possion of both morphine and atropine she taken into custody and forced to spend a night in a police cell before before fellow actress Eva Moore put up the 100 pounds necessary to gain her release on bail.

The Cissie Loftus that then stood before the judge, admitting her guilt and begging for just one more chance, was a pathetic creature, a pallid shadow of her former rosy self. Everyone, but for a few of her closest friends, beleived it was the end of her. But the judge took pity, suspending sentence and releasing her into the custody of her friends. They took her to the peace and quiet of a country cottage where she endured the agonies of withdrawal. Somehow she found the strength to endure, and as the weeks went by the craving lessened, the vitality returned to her body and for the first time in years she found herself able to sleep peacefully. Later, looking back on those dark days, she said: "God bless the bobby, who arrested me that night in London. The touch of his hand on my shoulder stirred for the first time within me confidence that I could strike off the shackles of the morphine habit."

Later, explaining what had led her to such a sorry condition, she told a story of a well meaning nurse who, during one of her bouts of illness, had given her a little too much morphine to help her sleep. She became dependent upon it and developed a craving for it. Then, unable to work, she had retreated into herself, living only to feed her morphine habit, until the day came when that bobby laid his hand upon her shoulder.

Having freed herself from the shackles of her merciless master, morphine, Cissie next set about resurrecting her career. She left England for good, returning to America where her shame was not so intense. She made a triumphant return at the Palace Theater in New York in September, 1923. She quickly re-established herself as a popular favourite in variety as well as a respected character actress, but is best remembered for her one-woman shows. She made a number of talking films during the 1930's, having made two silents some years previously.

Cissie Loftus died in her room at the Hotel Lincoln in New York, where she had lived for the last four years, on July 12th, 1943. She had been in poor health since returning from a recent tour of Canada, her death being attributed to a heart ailment and the effects of alcoholism. She was survived by her son, Peter, a theatrical producer in London.

Although best known as 'Cissie' Loftus (sometimes spelled 'Cissy'), she also at times used 'Cecilia' Loftus (particularly later in her career), and, in her 1899 tour of America at least, even went by the name of 'Kitty' Loftus - rather confusingly since there was at the time another English musical comedy actress who went by that name. Cissie was an unusually versatile performer, able to work successfully in both variety and the legitimate theatre, and gaining enormous popularity on both sides of the Atlantic. She played comedy and tragedy, was highly respected as a character actress and adored for her hilarious impersonations of famous characters, ranging from Sarah Bernhardt to Robert Morley. The great tenor Enrico Caruso himself one said of her "who is that girl with my voice in her throat?"

Movie Credits (source www.imdb.com)
1913 - A Lady of Quality [Clorinda Wildairs]
1917 - Diana of Dobson's [Diana]
1931 - East Lynne [Cornelia Carlyle]
1931 - Doctors' Wives [Aunt Amelia]
1931 - Young Sinners [Mrs. Sinclair]
1935 - Once in a Blue Moon [Duchess]
1939 - The Old Maid [Grandmother Henrietta Lovell]
1939 - On Dress Parade [Mrs. Neeley]
1940 - The Blue Bird [Granny Tyl]
1940 - It's a Date [Sara Frankenstein]
1940 - Lucky Partners [Mrs. Alice Sylvester aka Jenny Wren]
1941 - The Black Cat [Henrietta Winslow]