Eleanor Robson Belmont

Eleanor Robson Belmont was an English actress and prominent public figure in the United States. George Bernard Shaw wrote Major Barbara for her, but contractual problems prevented her from playing the role. Mrs. Belmont was involved in the Metropolitan Opera Association as the first woman on the Board of Directors, and she founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

She was born onDecember 1879 in Wigan, Lancashire to Madge Carr Cook and Charles Robson, and moved to the United States as a young girl. Her stage career began at agein San Francisco and she worked in stock companies from Honolulu to Milwaukee before making her New York debut in 1900 as Bonita, the ranchmans daughter in Augustus Thomass Arizona. Her tenyear career as a leading Broadway actress included top roles in such plays as Robert Brownings In a Balcony , Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet opposite Kyrle Bellew, Israel Zangwills Merely Mary Ann , Oliver Goldsmiths She Stoops to Conquer , Zangwills Nurse Marjorie , and Paul Armstrongs adaptation of Bret Hartes Salomy Jane . She retired when she wed August Belmont, Jr. onFebruary 1910.

Source: Wikipedia