Kate Josephine Bateman
Encyclopedia
Kate Josephine Bateman (Mrs. Crowe) (October 7, 1842 – April 8, 1917) was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress. She was born at Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman
Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman
Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman , known as H. L. Bateman, was an American actor and manager.Born in Baltimore, Maryland, his original goal was to be an engineer, but in 1832 became an actor, playing with Ellen Tree in juvenile leads...
, an actor and theatrical manager. Her mother, Sidney Frances Bateman
Sidney Frances Bateman
Sidney Frances Bateman , daughter of Joseph Cowell, an English actor who had settled in America, was married to Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman and also an actor....
, was also an actress. With her sister, Ellen (later Mrs. Greppo), she appeared on stage almost in infancy and exhibited unusual talent. In 1856, the Bateman children retired from child acting. Ellen Bateman never returned to the stage, retiring permanently after her marriage to Claude Greppo in 1860.
In March 1860, the sixteen year old Kate Bateman returned to the stage in her mother's adaptation of Longfellow
Longfellow
Longfellow may refer to:* Longfellow, Minneapolis, United States** Longfellow , Minneapolis, United States* Longfellow, Oakland, California, United States* Longfellow , one of America's first great thoroughbred racehorses...
's Evangeline
Evangeline
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie, is an epic poem published in 1847 by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians.The idea for the poem came from...
at the Winter Garden in New York City. This role launched Bateman to stardom and she eventually fell into the usual "romantic" roles, such as Shakespeare's Juliet, Pauline in The Lady of Lyons
The Lady of Lyons
The Lady of Lyons; or, Love and Pride, commonly known as The Lady of Lyons, is a five act romantic melodrama written in 1838 by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton...
and Julia in The Hunchback.
Bateman's "greatest dramatic triumph" as an actress, was her role in Leah the Forsaken, as the title character Leah. The play opened at Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden was a New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theatre that evolved in several...
in New York on January 19, 1863; it was extremely popular despite horrible reviews from dramatic critics. Bateman became identified with role of Leah, her emotional performance and "the bloodcurdling curse she hurled at her faithless Christian lover". She acted on stage in New York in 1862, and made a remarkable success as Leah in London in 1863.
She married George Crowe (1841-1889), son of Eyre Evans Crowe
Eyre Evans Crowe
Eyre Evans Crowe was an English journalist and historian.He commenced his work as a writer for the London newspaper press in connection with the Morning Chronicle, and he afterwards became a leading contributor to the Examiner and the Daily News...
, the former editor of the London Daily News, in 1866, then left the stage, but later revived Leah in 1868 at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
in London. Bateman left the stage again for several years due to a facial disfigurement caused by illness, but returned to the stage once more in 1891 in Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
' The American and in 1892 opened a school for acting in London. Bateman continued to appear on stage in David, Colonel Newcome and Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
' Medea
Medea (play)
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed...
in 1907.
In 1917, Bateman died from a cerebral hemorrhage. She was buried at Hendon
Hendon
Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...
parish church.
Her daughter, Sidney Kate Bateman Crowe (1871-1962), was also an actress, as was her granddaughter, Sidney Kate Leah Hunter (1892-1941) who used the stage names Leah Hunter and Leah Bateman Hunter.