Early Life
Mary Antoinette Anderson was the daughter of Charles Henry Anderson, an Oxford-educated New Yorker, and his wife, Antonia Leugers; the latter had been disowned by her Philadelphia Catholic family after the couple had eloped to California.
Shortly after Mary was born, the couple moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where her father enlisted in the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War. He was killed in action at Mobile when she was three.
Mary was educated at the Ursuline convent and the all-girl Presentation Academy in Louisville. She was an unenthusiastic pupil except for an interest in reading Shakespeare. Encouraged by her stepfather, Dr Hamilton Griffin, at 14 she was sent to New York for ten lessons with the actor George Vandenhoff, her only professional training.
Read more about this topic: Mary Anderson (stage Actress)
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)