Kitty Blanchard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
c. 1847
Kitty Blanchard Rankin
Kitty Rankin
Mrs. McKee Rankin
Mrs. Oliver Rankin
Kitty Blanchard | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Elizabeth Blanchard c. 1847 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 1911 (aged 63–64) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York |
| Other names | Katherine Blanchard True[1] Kitty Blanchard Rankin Kitty Rankin Mrs. McKee Rankin Mrs. Oliver Rankin |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, including Phyllis Rankin |
| Relatives | Doris Rankin (stepdaughter) |
Elizabeth "Kitty" Blanchard (c. 1847 – December 14, 1911)[2] was an American stage actress from Pennsylvania. A popular actress in 1870s and 1880s, she married actor McKee Rankin (1841–1914). Their children married into several other famous stage families, such as the Barrymores, Drews, and Davenports. In the 1870s she costarred along with Kate Claxton in the popular hit play The Two Orphans. In 1894 she was a member of the cast in the New York production of Arms and the Man, one of the earliest American appearances of a George Bernard Shaw play. Towards the end of her life, she and McKee Rankin came out of retirement in October 1911 and performed in a play called Peace on Earth.[3]
Rankin died December 14, 1911, in her bathtub in her hotel suite at the Belleclaire Hotel in New York City. She was using the name Mrs. Oliver Rankin and was listed in newspapers as being 70 years old.[4][5] First buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, she was moved on June 20, 1913, to the Rankin-Davenport family plot (which bears no individual markers) at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.[6]
