Venie Clancy

A cabinet card portrait of the American actress Venie Clancy (1861-1882).

Born Lavinia Gardiner in Cinncinatti, her career took off in 1877 when she replaced Eliza Weathersby in Edward E. Rice's hugely successful Evangeline, 'the new Spectacular American Opera Bouffe Extravaganza.' She also proved popular with audiences when she appeared as Josephine in Rice's unauthorised production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, which went on tour following a short run at the Lyceum Theatre in New York in 1879.

According to David S. Shields excellent website Broadway Photographs: ‘Throughout her career she elicited admiration for her features and her graceful manner on stage. She did not possess a voice sufficiently forceful to fill a theatre with song, but delivered lyrics elegantly. Never considered a first-rate talent, she nevertheless enjoyed immense celebrity because she was so photogenic.’

She died of tuberculosis in the winter of 1882. She was still only 21 years old. Her sister Laura, also an actress, died of the same disease two years later.

Photographed by Emil Scholl of Philadelphia.