Maude adams today
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Maude Adams
by Vicky Jackson
A previous version of this material can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-frvz-e959
Maude Adams was a hugely successful American stage actress of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was perhaps most famous for her performance as Peter Pan. Whilst she never appeared on screen she nevertheless made a significant contribution to the film industry through research she coordinated into lighting technology and color cinematography during the 1920s. Notoriously private, Adams gave few interviews and few personal papers survive. As a result, her own thoughts on her work remain elusive and, for the most part, this research has relied on film trade journals, newspaper reports, and previous biographies.
Maude Adams in play “L’Aiglon.” Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
During her theatrical career, Adams became interested in stage production and in particular stage lighting technology and design and came to work closely with technicians and engineers on her productions. Her most significant collaboration was with Basse
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“Our emotions are the finest things we have.”
by Naomi Watkins
Director of Education, Better Days 2020
Known as the most famous and highest-paid actress of her time, Maude Adams was an incredibly beautiful and “an intensely private person who donned so many personalities, she alluded to her own as being ‘the one I knew least.’”[1] In addition to her acting success, she helped invent technology to improve stage lighting and develop color film photography.
Maude Adams in 1892. Photo courtesy of Utah State Historical Society.
Born Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden to James Kiskadden and Asaneth “Annie” Adams in Salt Lake City, Maude often accompanied her actress mother on tour. Her stage debut came at two months old in the play The Lost Baby at the Salt Lake Theatre in Salt Lake City. Despite her father’s objections, Maude began acting as a young girl and adopted her mother’s maiden name as her stage name. The family moved to San Francisco, and Annie and Maude traveled throughout the western United States with a theatrical troupe. At age five, she debuted in
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Maude Adams
American actress and stage designer (1872–1953)
This article is about the American stage actress. For the Swedish actress and model, see Maud Adams.
Maude Ewing Adams Kiskadden (November 11, 1872 – July 17, 1953), known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American actress and stage designer who achieved her greatest success as the character Peter Pan, first playing the role in the 1905 Broadway production of Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up.[1] Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more than $1 million during her peak.[1][2]
Adams began performing as a child while accompanying her actress mother on tour. At the age of 16, she made her Broadway debut, and under Charles Frohman's management, she became a popular player alongside leading man John Drew Jr. in the early 1890s. Beginning in 1897, Adams starred in plays by J. M. Barrie, including The Little Minister, Quality Street, What Every Woman Kno
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