Theater Actress
Conquest's enthusiasm for theater dated from her childhood when she was in a production of Pinafore at the Boston Museum. She made her first appearance in New York at the Fifth Avenue Theatre on January 28, 1893, as the First Girl Friend in The Harvest. She began at the bottom of the ladder and according to a writer in 1900, "her advancement was thoroughly legitimate, meaning good hard work with every rung." The same reporter noted her charm, intelligence, and fine education.
She was the leading woman for John Drew, Richard Mansfield, and William Gillette. Conquest appeared in many roles in New York City and London, England before retiring from the stage in 1911.
She made her stage debut at Miner's Theater on Fifth Avenue on January 25, 1893. She played the role of First Girl Friend in The Harvest. In 1894 she acted in support of Olga Nethersole in The Transgressor at Palmer's Theater, 485 Broadway near Broome Street. Conquest also worked with Nethersole in Camille, portraying Nanine.
She traveled to London's Garrick Theatre in 1898 with Gillette, in Too Much Johnson. At the Empire Theatre in New York City Conquest was successful in The Second In Command (1901) with Drew. Together with Drew she starred in Richard Carvel, a play based on a best-selling novel written by the American novelist Winston Churchill. Drew and Conquest again teamed to make The Tyranny of Tears. Conquest succeeded Isabel Irving as the leading lady of the John Drew Company.
She played numerous parts at the Empire Theatre. She depicted characters in Under The Red Robe, Bohemia, A Man And His Wife, and The Conquerors. In 1895 Conquest became leading lady of the Empire Theatre Company of Charles Frohman.
Conquest became associated with the English actor Mansfield at the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1904. In Ivan the Terrible she acted the character of the Empress. Paired with Mansfield she appeared in Old Heidelberg, Beau Brummel, A Parisian Romance and Beaucaire. According to friends of Conquest, the actor never demonstrated his characteristic irascibility while working with her.
Additional theatrical productions in which Conquest participated are The Girl With The Green Eyes, written by Clyde Fitch, The Money Makers, Man and Superman, Little Brother of the Rich, Wolf, and The Talker.
Her final New York appearance was with Alla Nazimova in Little Eyolf (1910). Written by Henrik Ibsen, the play was staged at the Nazimova 39th Street Theatre.
Read more about this topic: Ida Conquest
Famous quotes containing the words theater and/or actress:
“The theater is a baffling business, and a shockingly wasteful one when you consider that people who have proven their worth, who have appeared in or been responsible for successful plays, who have given outstanding performances, can still, in the full tide of their energy, be forced, through lack of opportunity, to sit idle season after season, their enthusiasm, their morale, their very talent dwindling to slow gray death. Of finances we will not even speak; it is too sad a tale.”
—Ilka Chase (1905–1978)
“An actress reading a part for the first time tries many ways to say the same line before she settles into the one she believes suits the character and situation best. There’s an aspect of the rehearsing actress about the girl on the verge of her teens. Playfully, she is starting to try out ways to be a grown-up person.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)