Isabelle Evesson (c. 1870 – August 9, 1914) was an American actress.
Early life Isabelle Evesson was born in New York City, the daughter of Henry Evesson Jr. and Florine Augusta Bassford Evesson.A. D. Storms, The Players Blue Book (Sutherland & Storm 1901): 122.
Her sister Estelle Clayton was also an actress,Estelle Clayton, Broadway Photographs."Charles W. Evesson Arrested" New York Times (October 20, 1892). as well as a playwright; she wrote A Puritan Romance as a vehicle for her sister and herself."Amusements of the Week" The Tammany Times (August 16, 1897): 10. In 1907, the sisters formed the Bassford Estate Corporation, hoping to recover compensation for some of their grandfather's extensive land holdings in the New York City area. "So, with the walls of their handsome apartment covered with old maps," explained a newspaper reporter in 1907, "these two Evesson sisters, year in and year out, are making their fight for untold millions.""If their Wonderful Dream Comes True" Montana Standard (April 25, 1907): 13. via Newspapers.com
Career Isabelle Evesson was performing on stage from her teens,Charles Edgar Lewis Wingate, The Playgoers' Year-book for 1888 (Stage Publishing 1888): 76–78. often in touring companies and in Boston and Chicago.Morris Bacheller, "Favorite Figures of the Stage" Munsey's Magazine (June 1892): 301–304. She spent two years acting in London."Our Gallery of Players" The Illustrated American (October 22, 1892): 363. "Every act and gesture is finished," noted a Los Angeles newspaper of Evesson's performance in 1905, "and her voice is sweet and well modulated.""Isabelle Evesson Wins High Favor" Los Angeles Herald (July 18, 1905): 8. via California Digital Newspaper Collection Evesson's Broadway credits included roles in Mr. Barnes of New York (1888), Papa's Wife (1899–1900), Anna Karenina (1905), and The Charm of Isabel (1914). She was in the original 1887 cast of Richard Mansfield's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Boston Museum.Amnon Kabatchnik, Blood on the Stage, 1800 to 1900: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem (Rowman & Littlefield 2017): 491.
Evesson appeared in two silent films, A Mother's Atonement (1914), and The Girl and the Bachelor (1915). She was a charter member of the Professional Woman's League at their organizational meeting in 1892.
Personal life Isabelle Evesson married journalist Almyr Wilder Cooper in 1895; the Mayor of New York performed the civil ceremony in his office. Cooper died suddenly in 1896, from injuries sustained in an assault."Miss Evesson's Strange Suit" The Times (December 29, 1896): 6. via Newspapers.com Isabel Evesson died in 1914, at home in Stamford, Connecticut, in her forties.
References
External links
Images of Isabelle Evesson in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection Photograph File, New York Public Library Digital Collections. The Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic News Saturday August 9, 1884