Chancellor Olcott

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Chancellor Olcott

Chancellor Olcott & co-star, c.1895
Born (1858-07-21)July 21, 1858
Buffalo, New York, United States
Died March 18, 1932(1932-03-18) (aged 73)
Monte Carlo
Resting place
Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York, United States
Spouse(s) Rita Olcott (1 child)
Awards Songwriters Hall of Fame

Chancellor "Chauncey" Olcott (July 21, 1858 – March 18, 1932) was an American stage actor, songwriter and singer of Irish descent.[1]

Born in Buffalo, New York, in the early years of his career Olcott sang in minstrel shows and Lillian Russell played a major role in helping make him a Broadway star.[2] Amongst his songwriting accomplishments, Olcott wrote and composed the song "My Wild Irish Rose" for his production of A Romance of Athlone in 1899. Olcott also wrote the lyrics to "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" for his production of The Isle O' Dreams in 1912.

He retired to Monte Carlo and died there of Pernicious anemia in 1932. His body was brought home and interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

His life story was told in the 1947 Warner Bros. motion picture My Wild Irish Rose starring Dennis Morgan as Olcott.

In 1970, Olcott was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

References

  1. Walter Brown & E. De Roy Koch. "OLCOTT, Chauncy (John Chancellor)". Who's Who on Stage, 1908. NY: B. W. Dodge & Co. p. 333. 
  2. One of his shows not listed in the IBDb database is Pepita; or, the Girl with the Glass Eyes. See Welch, Deshler. - The Theatre, vol. 1, 1886, p. 150, accessed June 27, 2013; and Brown, Thomas Alston. A History of the New York Stage, 1903, p. 176, accessed June 27, 2013

External links


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