Anna Cora Mowatt

Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie (1819 – 1870) was an author, playwright, public reader, and actress.

Childhood

Anna Cora Ogden was born in Bordeaux, France, March 5, 1819. She was the tenth of fourteen children. Her father was Samuel Gouveneur Ogden (1779 – 1860). Her mother was Eliza Lewis Ogden (1785 – 1836), the granddaughter of Francis Lewis, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. In 1826, when Anna was six years old, the Ogden family returned to the United States.cite web|url=http://www.comm.unt.edu/histofperf/ACM1.htm|title=Anna Cora Mowatt|work=History of Performance Studies/Uni. of North Texas.|accessmonthday=February 2|accessyear=2007]

On October 6, 1834, Anna Cora Ogden eloped with James Mowatt (1805 – 1849), a lawyer and her teacher. They moved to an estate in Flatbush, New York. Anna Cora wrote of her elopement:

Career

Anna Cora Mowatt's first book, "Pelayo, or The Cavern of Covadonga", was published in 1836, then "Reviewers Reviewed" in 1837 using the pseudonym "Isabel".cite web|url=http://www.librarycompany.org/women/portraits/mowatt.htm|title=Portraits of American Women Writers|work=Anna Cora Mowatt|accessmonthday=February 2|accessyear=2007] She wrote articles which were in "The Ladies' Companion" and "Sargent's Magazine". She wrote a six act play, "Gulzara", which was published in "The New World". Under the pseudonym Henry C. Browning, she wrote a biography of Goethe. Using the pseudonym "Helen Berkley", she wrote two novels: "The Fortune Hunter" and "Evelyn". "Evelyn" is written in the epistolary style. In 1841, due to financial problems, Anna became a public reader. Her first performance was attended by Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote of her, "A more radiantly beautiful smile is quite impossible to conceive."

Her readings were popular and well attended, but her career as a reader was short lived due to respiratory problems. While recovering from her illness, she returned to her writing.In 1845, her best-known work, the play ""cite web|url=http://library.marist.edu/diglib/english/americanliterature/19c-20c%20play%20archive/fashion-index.htm
title=Fashion|work=American Literature|accessmonthday=February 2|accessyear=2007] was published. It received rave reviews and opened at the Park Theatre, New York, on March 24, 1845. On June 13, 1845, she made another career move to acting, she debuted at the Park Theatre as Pauline in "The Lady of Lyons" with great success.cite web|url=http://www.wayneturney.20m.com/mowatt.htm|title=Anna Cora Mowatt|work=A Glimpse of Theater History|accessmonthday=February 2|accessyear=2007] Although her next play, ", the Child of the People" was published in 1847, and also received good reviews, she continued her acting career. She performed leading roles in Shakespeare (for instance, in a production of "Cymbeline" in London in 1843), melodramas, and her own plays. She toured the United States and Europe for the next eight years.

On February 15, 1851, her husband, James Mowatt died. After a short break she resumed her acting career. In December 1853, her book "Autobiography of an Actress" was published. Anna Cora Mowatt's last appearance on the public stage was June 3, 1854.

Later years

On June 7, 1853, Anna married William Foushee Ritchie (? – 1868), son of Thomas Ritchie. Their wedding was a lavish affair, attended by President of the United States, Franklin Pierce and his Cabinet. During the next few years she wrote two more novels, "Mimic Life", published in 1855 and "Twin Roses", published in 1857. She was also involved in the preservation of George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. Anna left her husband in 1860 and moved to Europe. She wrote the novel "Mute Singer", published in 1861. She wrote " Fairy Fingers", published in 1865. In 1865, she moved to England, where she wrote "The Clergyman's Wife, and Other Sketches" in 1867. Anna Cora Ogden Mowatt Ritchie died in Twickenham, England, on July 21, 1870. She is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London, beside her first husband, James Mowatt.

References

External links

* [http://library.marist.edu/diglib/english/americanliterature/19c-20c%20play%20archive/fashion-index.htm text] of her play, "Fashion"