Irma La Pierre
American actress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irma La Pierre (November 10, 1881 – October 9, 1951) was an American actress, active on the stage before World War I.
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Irma La Pierre | |
|---|---|
Irma La Pierre, c. 1905 | |
| Born | November 10, 1881 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 9, 1951 (aged 69) New York, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Irma Lapierre, Irma Thompson |
| Occupation | actress |
Early life
Career
La Pierre began working on the New York stage in her teens, starting with Augustin Daly's company.[1] Her stage credits included roles in London Assurance, The School for Scandal, The Geisha, Lili-Tse, Circus Girl, Wedded and Parted (1903),[3] The Plainsman (1905),[4] Way Down East (1906),[5] When Old New York Was Dutch (1909),[6] The Iron King (1910),[7] Metz in Ireland (1910),[8][9] Seven Days (1911),[10] and The College Widow.[11] On Broadway she appeared in The Bonnie Brier Bush (1901),[12][13] Skipper & Co., Wall Street (1903), The Village Lawyer (1908), and Up and Down Broadway (1910).[14] She acted in one silent film, Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1913), which starred Minnie Maddern Fiske in the title role.[15]
La Pierre was considered a fashionable stage beauty. Her facial features and proportions were analyzed for insights into her character for a 1913 magazine feature: "The smallness of the back of the head indicates that the coarser passions are conspicuous by their absence," according to physiognomist Annie Isabella Oppenheim.[16] Later in life, she managed a rooming house at 255 West 108th Street in New York City.[17][18]
Personal life
La Pierre married actor Franklin Hallett Thompson by 1914.[19][20] His father was Massachusetts politician Charles Perkins Thompson. The Thompsons were separated but "on friendly terms" when he died by suicide in 1938.[21][22] She died in 1951, at the age of 69, in New York City. Soon after, some of her papers were donated to the New York Public Library.[18][23]