Elizabeth Lee Kirkland (September 26, 1869 – December 8, 1936) was an American actress, writer and arts patron known professionally as Odette Tyler.
Early life and education Elizabeth Lee Kirkland was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1869 (some sources give 1872),"Our Portraits" Burr-MacIntosh Monthly (January 1907). the daughter of William Whedbee Kirkland and Susan Ann Hardee Kirkland. Her father was a Confederate general in the American Civil War."Odette Tyler" Opera Glass (March 1897): 108–109. Her maternal uncle William J. Hardee was also a Confederate general.John W. Leonard, Woman's Who's who of America (American Commonwealth 1914): 829. Her older brother, Hardee Kirkland, was an actor and director in silent films.Cleveland Jamison, "The Stage and the Service" Green Book Magazine (February 1910): 409. Robert E. Lee was her godfather.
Her education included time at a convent school in Georgetown and at the Loretto Convent in Guelph, Ontario.Jack Peyrouse, "Rezin David Shepherd III (R. D. MacLean): He Loved His Shakespeare as his Life", The Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society (1991): 30–31.
Career Odette Tyler started her New York stage career in 1884, in Sieba, a spectacle. Her other theatrical appearances included roles in the shows The Private Secretary, In Spite of All, Featherbrain (1889), Men and Women (1890), Lost Paradise, The Councillor's Wife (1892), Shenandoah (1892), The Girl I Left Behind Me (1893), The Younger Son (1893), Poor Girls (1894), The Man Upstairs (1895), The Gay Parisians (1895),"'The Gay Parisians' Leading Woman", Munsey's Magazine (January 1896): 492. William Hooker Gillette's Secret Service (1896, in London 1897),"'Secret Service', a Romance of the Confederacy" The Illustrated American (October 31, 1896): 598.J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1890–1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013): 340. Phroso (1899), The Heart of Maryland (1905), The Love Route (1906), It Happened in Dixie (1914). She acted in several Shakespearean roles, including Desdemona, Juliet, and Portia, and roles in Coriolanus and King John.Lewis Clinton Strang, Famous Actresses of the Day in America (L. C. Page 1899): 285–290.Dixie Hines, Harry Prescott Hanaford, Who's Who in Music and Drama (Hanaford 1914): 207.Who's Who in Theatre (Pitman 1922): 819. In 1906, she headed her own stock company."The Odette Tyler Stock Company" Washington Post (April 22, 1906): 8. via Newspapers.com She appeared in one silent film, The Saphead (1920).
Tyler wrote a novel, Boss: A Story of Virginia Life, published in 1895.Odette Tyler, Boss (Continental Publishing 1897). "It is quite as good as most novels that are printed," noted the New York Times reviewer."A Novel by Odette Tyler" New York Times (December 25, 1895): 14. She later adapted Boss for the screen. She also wrote a play, Red Carnation, which she starred in with her second husband in 1905. Months before she died in 1936, she directed a play in Los Angeles."You Know These People" Los Angeles Times (February 16, 1936): 40. via Newspapers.com
As Elizabeth Lee Shepherd, she was a patron of the arts in Los Angeles. She was one of the organizers of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and of the women's wing of the Los Angeles Grand Opera Association."Hostess During Opera Week" Los Angeles Times (September 20, 1925): 46. via Newspapers.com"Society Prepares for Season of Grand Opera" Los Angeles Times (September 4, 1932): 24. via Newspapers.com She also chaired the city's Shakespeare Foundation, and worked toward the building of a theatre dedicated to productions of Shakespeare plays."Shakespeare Center Plan of Foundation" Los Angeles Times (April 12, 1934): 28. via Newspapers.com
Personal life In 1883, when she was age 14, Odette Tyler married Edgar P. Crissman; they divorced. In 1894, she was engaged to marry wealthy Howard Gould, but both of their families objected, and the engagement was broken."Opposed by Brothers and Sisters" New York Times (April 13, 1894): 9."Howard Gould May Marry Miss Tyler" New York Times (November 9, 1894): 12. "Does Not Correspond with Gould" New York Times (June 2, 1894): 9. She married fellow actor R.D. MacLean (also known as Rezin Davis Shepherd, and Donald MacLean Shepherd) in 1897."Topics of the Theatre" Ainslee's Magazine (June 1899): 618."Odette Tyler a Wife" New York Times (April 28, 1897): 4. The couple moved to California in 1919 for R.D. MacLean's film career.Curt Mason, "R. D. Shepherd, aka R. D. MacLean" Historic Shepherdstown & Museum. Odette Tyler died of heart attack in 1936 in Los Angeles.Allan R. Ellenberger, Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory (McFarland 2001): 154. "Odette Tyler Dies; A Former Actress" New York Times (December 9, 1936): 27.
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