Della Fox - Biography

Biography

Fox was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Andrew J. Fox, a leading St. Louis photographer who had a specialty of theatrical subjects, and Harriett Swett. She made her first appearance on stage at age 7 as the Midshipmate in a St. Louis production of H.M.S. Pinafore and subsequently played children's roles with Marie Prescott's company. In 1880 she appeared as Adrienne in A Celebrated Case and came to the attention of Augustus Thomas and his Dickson Sketch Club.

When Thomas dramatized Frances Hodgson Burnett's story Editha's Burglar, he engaged Fox to play the leading role, her first professional engagement. Thomas had the play expanded from one to a three-act play which gave Fox more prominence. From 1883 through 1885, the play toured the U.S. Midwest and Canada, and Fox was chaperoned by Nellie Page (a leading lady) and tutored by Thomas. Although her parents wanted her to attend boarding school, Fox was determined to become an actress. In the late 1880s, she appeared with Comley Barton and the Bennett and Moulton Opera Company, with which she played soprano roles in operettas such as Fra Diavolo, The Bohemian Girl, The Pirates of Penzance, Billee Taylor and The Mikado.

In February 1889, she appeared for the first time in New York, at Niblo's Garden. Her operetta roles brought her to the attention of Heinrich Conried, who had her play Yvonne, the soubrette part in The King's Fool, singing the song "Fair Columbia". Conried also provided Fox with the only acting lessons she received. When the newly-formed De Wolf Opera Company was seeking a supporting cast, George W. Lederer of the New York Casino Theatre suggested Fox. In May 1890, Hopper opened in Gustave Kerker's Castles in the Air, with Fox playing Blanche. Her first big success occurred in 1891 when she played Prince Mataya together with Hopper in his production of Wang, singing "Another Fellow". The show was so popular that Fox and Hopper continued to play in it through 1892. In 1893, Fox re-teamed with Hopper in Panjandrum, followed by The Lady or the Tiger in 1894.

In 1894 she starred Clairette in William Furst's The Little Trooper, and in 1895 the same composer's Fleur-de-Lis, continuing to play in comic opera and operetta. Also in 1895, Fay Templeton dedicated her song, I Want Yer Ma Honey to Fox, as did Franc L. Grannis with his song My Little Secret. In 1897 she appeared with Lillian Russell and Jefferson De Angelis in The Wedding Day. By 1898, Fox succeeded in forming her own company, producing and starring in The Little Host which played with success from December 26, 1898 through March 1899. The diminutive, plump Fox became known for her childlike persona and her bobbed hairstyle: the "Della Fox curl" was later imitated by girls across America.

Beginning in 1899, Fox suffered from ill health and the effects of alcohol and drug abuse, and on October 28, 1899, she was reported to be dying of peritonitis, but survived and returned to the stage. In June 1900 she suffered a nervous breakdown but returned to the stage by September for The Rogers Brothers in Central Park. In December 1901, Fox married Jacob David Levy, a diamond broker, in Boston. After the marriage, she appeared mostly in vaudeville houses. In 1904, she was committed to an institution, the Brunswick Home on Long Island. She recovered and made two more appearances on Broadway: in The West Point Cadet (1904), and her final show, Rosedale (1913).

Fox died at a private sanatorium in New York City in 1913, aged 42. She is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.