Mary Ann Duff

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Mary Ann Duff (1794-1857) was a tragic actress, in her time the greatest upon the American stage. [1] Her maiden name was Mary Ann Dyke; she was born in London, and she died in New York. Her father was an Englishman, employed in the service of the East India Company, and he died abroad while she was a child. She was one of three sisters, all of whom adopted the profession of the Stage, — making their first appearance in 1808, at a Dublin theatre, — and all of whom were remarkable for beauty of person and winning sweetness of disposition. Mary Ann married in her sixteenth year John R. Duff, an Irish actor, with whom she came to America in 1810.

She first appeared in Boston as Juliet and made her reputation in this and other tragic rôles, including Ophelia, Desdemona, and Lady Macbeth. In 1821, in Boston, she played Hermione in The Distrest Mother so powerfully that Edmund Kean feared it might be forgotten that he was the "star." She first appeared in New York in 1823, as Hermione, to the Orestes of the elder Booth. In 1828 she played at Drury Lane, London, but soon returned to America where Mr. Duff died in 1831. He had been for some time in poor health and had declined in professional popularity, while his wife, at first viewed as inferior to him in ability, had surpassed and eclipsed him. After her husband's death, Mrs. duff had a hard struggle with poverty, — as she was the mother of ten children, and as actors, even of the best order, were poorly paid in those days. In 1826, in New York, Mr. and Mrs. Duff received jointly, during ten weeks, a salary of only $55 a week, together with the net proceeds of one benefit. In 1835 she played for the last time in New York and was married to Mr. Joel G. Sevier, of New Orleans. There occurred her farewell to the stage in 1838.

She lived in New Orleans, renounced the Stage, left the Catholic faith, and became a Methodist; and for many years her life was devoted to works of piety and benevolence. About 1854 the once great and renowned actress, now a sad, subdued, broken-spirited old lady, took up her abode with her youngest daughter, Mrs. I. Reillieux, at No, 36 West Ninth Street, New York City, where, on September 5, 1857, she died. Her disease was cancer, and she expired of internal hemorrhage. An article in "The Philadelphia Sunday Mercury," August 9, 1874, written by Mr. James Rees, relates the strange circumstances of her burial. According to that authority, the body of Mrs. Duff-Sevier was laid in the receiving tomb at Greenwood, September 6, 1857, and shortly afterward that of her daughter, Mrs. Reillieux, was likewise laid there; but on April 15, 1858, both those bodies were thence removed and were finally buried in the same grave, which is No. 805, in Lot 8,999, in that part of the cemetery known as "The Hill of Graves," — the certificate describing them as "Mrs. Matilda I. Reillieux & Co." The grave was then marked with a headstone, inscribed with the words, "My Mother and Grandmother." There seems to have been a purpose to conceal the identity of Mrs. Sevier with Mrs. Duff, and to hide the fact that the mother of Mrs. Reillieux had ever been on the stage, — but the grave of the great actress was finally discovered, and many a pilgrim, honoring the memory of genius and virtue, will pause beside it, with reverence, as the years drift away.

Mrs. Duff seems to have been lovely more than beautiful; strong in the affectionate, melting charms of womanhood rather than in resolute, commanding, brilliant intellect; a person fitted to embody the heroines that entice and enthrall by their irresistible tenderness and grace; magical with the glamour of romance; sacred in the majesty of grief; fascinating in tears; and never so entirely triumphant as when overwhelmed with misery. The character of the parts in which she was best certainly points to that conclusion. Hermione, — not Shakespeare's, but the heroine of "The Distrest Mother", taken from Racine's "Andromaque", — was a great success in her impersonation.