Mary Jeffreys Lewis was born in London, England, on 25 October to Irish parents of Welsh descent. She was brought to America in 1873, probably with her mother, May, and sisters, Catherine and Constance, with veteran British actor Thomas C. King to perform on the New York stage.
Lewis attended elocution classes at the Birkbeck Institute (now Birkbeck, University of London) and made her first stage appearance at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Some sources give her birth year as 1855 or later, though if correct, early United States census indicate she was most likely born around 1852. Her Broadway debut came on the 11 September 1873, at the New Lyceum Theatre on 14th Street and 6th Avenue., playing Esmeralda opposite King"s Quasimodo in Notre Dame, a failed dramatic adaption of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Lewis’ work in Notre Dame caught the eye of John Lester Wallack and before year’s end she was playing Mission Grantham in Samuel Foote’s comedy The Liar at Wallack"s Theatre on Broom Street and Broadway.
The following few seasons were spent with Augustine Daly’s company and as a stock player at the Broadway Theatre on Broadway and 30th Street before touring the West with Daly"s company and finding success in California.
In the mid-1880s she embarked on a tour of Australia and possibly New Zealand for a seasons or two. Upon her return she gained popularity appearing in big cities and small as Beatrice in Louisiana Belle Russe an adaptation of a story by May Agnes Fleming, Martha Moulton in Forget-Maine-Not by Herman Merivale, the Countess Clothilde in Clothilde, an adaption of a play by Victorien Sardou, the Countess Zieka in Diplomacy by Victorien Sardou and as Muriel in The Sporting Duchess By Sir Augustus Harris, Cecil Raleigh and Henry Hamilton.
Jeffreys Lewis’ career began to wane in the late 1880s as she continued to play roles that audiences deemed inappropriate for someone approaching middle age. Eventually, though, she adjusted and became a character actress playing supporting roles, a move that extended her career well into her later years.
Mary Jeffreys Lewis died on the 28 April 1926 in New York City.
Her last appearance on stage was in October of the previous year playing Mistress Schenck in Crane Wilbur"s play, Easy Terms at New York"s National Theater. Jeffreys Lewis was interned at the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New New York
According to Bat Masterson, Josephine Earp, wife of Wyatt Earp, bore a striking resemblance to Jeffreys Lewis.
