Background
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders was born on July 23, 1816 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Elkanah and Mary Eliza (Babbit) C. Studied for operatic career.
Cushman, Charlotte Saunders was born on July 23, 1816 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Elkanah and Mary Eliza (Babbit) C. Studied for operatic career.
Studied for operatic career.
he began her career as a singer, making her operatic debut in 1835 in Boston as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. Shortly afterward, however, she left opera, to which she never returned, and in New Orleans entered upon a dramatic career in the role of Lady Macbeth. She made her New York debut in 1836 in the same role, and toured the principal cities of the United States, where, unlike most actresses of the day, she was received socially. Her dignity and intellectual attainments did much to raise the standing of her profession in the country. She acted in England (1845-1849), where she was acclaimed--as in the United States--as one of the great actresses of the time. She excelled in tragic parts, and amazed the public by her successful masculine roles of Romeo and Hamlet. She was best known for her Lady Macbeth, Meg Merrilies in Guy Mannering, and Queen Katherine in Henry VIII.