Elizabeth Crocker Bowers - Career and Marriages

Career and Marriages

When sixteen years old, she appeared in the character of Amanthis at the Park Theatre in New York City, New York.

On March 4, 1847, she married David P. Bowers, an actor on the same stage, with whom she went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A week later she appeared as Donna Victoria in A Bold Stroke for a Husband at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Afterward she became very popular at the Arch Street Theatre, also in Philadelphia, and remained there until her husband's death in 1857.

In December 1857, after a period of retirement from the stage, she leased the Walnut Street Theatre and retained its management until 1859. She then leased the Philadelphia Academy of Music for a short dramatic season.

Soon after this she married Dr. Brown of Baltimore, Maryland, who died in 1867.

In September 1861, she went to London, United Kingdom, and made a great success as Julia in The Hunchback at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. She soon became a favorite with the English, and played as Geraldine D'Arcy in Woman (play) at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

Returning to New York City in 1863, she played for a time at the Winter Garden (now demolished). Among her favorite roles were Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Marie Antoinette, and Lady Audley.

After the death of Dr. Brown in 1867, she married J. C. McCollom, with whom she repeated many of her popular roles.

Her subsequent retirement at Philadelphia was interrupted by a return to the stage in October 1886 for several years. She organized a new dramatic company, and visited the principal cities of the U.S., playing many of her old and favorite characters. Under A. M. Palmer's management she appeared in Lady Windermere's Fan (1893), and later she was a supporting actress for Rose Coghlan and Olga Nethersole.