Irma La Pierre
Irma La Pierre | |
|---|---|
 Irma La Pierre, from a 1909 publication, photographed by Sarony | |
| Born | November 10, 1881 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | October 9, 1951 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Irma Lapierre, Irma Thompson |
| Occupation | actress |
Irma La Pierre (November 10, 1881 – October 9, 1951) was an American actress, active on the stage before World War I.
Early life
La Pierre was born in Chicago,[1] the daughter of Lotta La Pierre.[2]
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]
References
- ^ a b Storms, A. D. (1901). The Players Blue Book. Robarts - University of Toronto. Worcester, Mass. Sutherland & Storms. p. 188-189.
- ^ "Died". The New York Times. June 22, 1922. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ "Stage Show for Heroine". The New York Times. September 15, 1903. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Seen on the Stage: Irma La Pierre". Vogue. 28 (15): 478. October 11, 1906 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Irma La Pierre". The Theatre Magazine. 6 (59): 16. January 1906.
- ^ "Some Curious Premieres". The Theatre. 9 (99): 165. May 1909.
- ^ "Columbia--'The Iron King'". The Washington Post. 1910-10-25. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-08-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Success and a Gown; Leading Lady with Al H. Wilson Had Her Troubles in Baltimore". The Calumet News. 1910-04-12. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-08-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Metz Wanders Through Erin". Duluth Evening Herald. April 12, 1910. p. 9 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "From the Stalls". The Bellman. 10 (235): 57. January 14, 1911.
- ^ "Plays and Play People". News Journal. 1907-01-24. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-08-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "'The Bonnie Brier Bush'; Produced in the Tremont Theatre, Boston, with J.H. Stoddart as Lachlan Campbell". The New York Times. August 27, 1901. p. 6. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-08-16.
- ^ "The New York Theatres; Players in Current Attractions". Harper's Weekly. 45 (2339): 1059. October 19, 1901.
- ^ Briscoe, Johnson (1908). The Actors' Birthday Book: 2d Series. An Authoritative Insight Into the Lives of the Men and Women of the Stage Born Between January First and December Thirty-first. Moffat, Yard. p. 252.
- ^ "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". Billboard. Vol. 25, no. 37. September 13, 1913. p. 7 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Oppenheim, Annie Isabella (January 1913). "Character Studies of Footlight Favorites". The Strand. 44 (264): 776.
- ^ Irma Thompson in the 1940 United States Federal Census, via Ancestry.
- ^ a b "Hallett Thompson papers". New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts. Retrieved 2025-08-17.
- ^ Stage deaths : a biographical guide to international theatrical obituaries, 1850 to 1990. Internet Archive. New York : Greenwood Press. 1991. p. 1214. ISBN 978-0-313-27593-7.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ^ "Miss Irma La Pierre (Mrs. Hallet Thompson)". Goodwin's Weekly. 22 (13): 12. March 21, 1914.
- ^ "Hallett Thompson Dies". Buffalo Courier Express. 1938-08-15. p. 2. Retrieved 2025-08-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Actor Attempts Suicide". The New York Times. August 13, 1938. p. 16.
- ^ "Theatre". Bulletin of the New York Public Library. 55: 621. December 1951 – via Internet Archive.