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Chronicles the life of the nineteenth-century actress who was the first woman to head a theater company, and who was the leading lady on stage the night that Lincoln was assassinated

English-born actress Keene left behind an unsuccessful marriage and brought her two daughters to America to achieve success on the stage in the 1850s. She changed the way in which the American theater operated by pioneering as the first female theater manager and inaugurating such innovations as road tours, long runs of successful plays, and Saturday matinees. The Civil War forced the closing of her New York City theater in 1863 and she thereafter toured until her death in 1873. She was starring in Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on the fateful night of April 14, 1865. This is a well-documented and lively account of Keene's life and contributions to the stage, which gives an interesting picture of the theatrical life of that time.-- Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass. Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.

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Keene (1826-1873) is best remembered as the actress who cradled the head of President Lincoln as he lay dying in Washington's Ford's Theatre. As revealed in this adulatory biography, however, she was also an autocratic, innovative contributor to the dramatic arts, pioneering the concepts of repertory, touring casts, scenery and lighting design. After her New York debut in 1852, newly arrived from England, Keene, in order to be seen as an ``unwed leading-lady,'' severed connections with her husband, raised her children as if she were their ``aunt'' and enjoyed a rewarding relationship with mentor and business manager John Lutz until his death in 1869. Although the author, a former president of the University of Tulsa, imaginatively interpolates much of his subject's personal life, this biography offers a meticulously detailed view of mid-19th-century American theater. Illustrations. (Dec.) Copyright 1990 Cahners Business Information.