Background
Matilda Agnes Heron was born on December 1, 1830, in County Londonderry, Ireland, the daughter of John and Mary Laughlin Heron. At an early age she was brought to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was reared by her brother Alexander.
Matilda Agnes Heron was born on December 1, 1830, in County Londonderry, Ireland, the daughter of John and Mary Laughlin Heron. At an early age she was brought to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was reared by her brother Alexander.
After attending a French academy in Philadelphia, Matilda became a pupil of the actor Peter Richings.
Despite her brother’s opposition Matilda Heron made her début at the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, February 17, 1851. Her success was followed by an engagement for leading rôles at the Bowery Theatre, New York, beginning August 23, 1852. The next year she made a trip to California. Arriving unknown and almost penniless, she yet contrived a début at San Francisco, December 26, 1853, and at once became an immense favorite. Shortly thereafter she went abroad and at Paris saw Mme. Doche in Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias. She quickly translated the play into English and acted the leading part in America in October 1855. Her Camille was not the first this country had seen, but the drama did not create a furore here until she presented it in New York, January 22. 1857. Critics and audiences alike hailed the advent of a brilliant genius. After a long run of Camille, she brought out in New York her translation of Legouvé’s Medea, another drama well suited to her tempestuous spirit.
In 1860 Heron took Camille to London, but the censor so mangled the play that it almost failed. On her return to America she repeated her former triumphs in it, playing time after time in most of the large theatres of the country, and then making a second visit to California, where she was received with high honor. This period wwas also marked by her appearance, though without great success, in several of her own original plays. During her later years her popularity waned. The fortune she had made from Camille had been dissipated by extravagance and lavish generosity, and she was reduced to poverty.
On January 17, 1872, a benefit for her relief was held in New York, in which Edwin Booth and other noted players participated, and which yielded over $4, 000. Except for this aid her support was derived from the training of aspirants for the theatre. Among her most gifted pupils was her own daughter, Hélène, later known to the stage as Bijou Heron. Early in 1877 her illhealth necessitated an operation, from which she did not recover.
Matilda Heron’s range of characters was not wide, but in her parts she always displayed a strange, wild beauty, or an elemental passion that overwhelmed her spectators and exerted a distinct influence on the acting of her time. She was best known for her role in the play Camille, which she translated and adapted from the French play La Dame aux Camélias.
Heron's intense and impulsive nature had found a peculiarly congenial medium, and, although her naturalistic method was sometimes condemned, her sincerity and power were irresistible.
On June 10, 1854 Matilda Heron was clandestinely married to Henry Byrne, a San Francisco lawyer, but a permanent separation followed within a few months. She also was married to Robert Stoepel, New York musician, whom she later divorced.
