Cora Tanner

Cora Tanner
Born	c. 1861 Cleveland, Ohio[1]
Died	March 1945 Grand Rapids, Michigan
Other names	Cora S. Tanner, Cora Tanner Reed
Occupation	Actress
Years active	c. 1870s-1902
Spouse(s)	C. Fred Farlin (1879-83, divorced), William E. Sinn (1886-93, divorced), Charles S. Reed ​ (m. 1903)​

Cora Tanner (c. 1861–1945) was an American stage actress who was most popular in the mid-1880s through her retirement from the stage in 1902.

Biography

Tanner was born in Cleveland, Ohio around 1861. She first appeared on stage at McVicker's Theater in Chicago; she reported she was 14 at the time.[2] She first appeared in London in 1880. She was the first American Princess Ida in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera of the same name in 1884.[3] The 1901 book Players of the Present opined that "since the beginning of the season of 1885-86 she has been constantly before the public more or less prominently as a star," reporting her first success was the role of Annie Meadows in Robert Buchanan's Alone in London (playing the role from 1884 to 1888), and then in 1888 in the same author's play Fascination. In 1895-96 she appeared in the Broadway hit The Sporting Duchess. In 1900 she portrayed Aurora Borealis in Broadway musical A Million Dollars. She appears to have retired from the stage in 1902.

As typical of a stage star of her day, her personal life was occasionally news fodder, including her public divorce from Colonel William E. Sinn, a Brooklyn theatre manager. Sinn tried to claim that Tanner's first marriage to Fred Farlin had never been ended, making their marriage invalid, but lost that claim. Occasionally there were comments in the news about her weight, which tended to be a bit on the heavier side. In 1899, reports ran that she almost died from eating poisoned candy that was left at her hotel by a messenger. In 1903, Tanner married Charles S. Reed in New York, and public coverage of her essentially ceased.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Tanner died in March 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at a reported age of 84.[14][15]

References

1. (14 November 1887). Miss Cora Tanner, St. Paul Daily Globe
2. (May 1896). An Artist in Melodrama, Munsey's Magazine, p. 238
3. Gänz l, Kurt (1986). The British Musical Theatre: Volume I, 1865–1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 247.
4. (7 August 1903). Cora Tanner Married, The New York Times
5. Players of the Present, Part III, p. 359 (1901)
6. (15 April 1899). Poison in Roses - Desperate Attempt Made Upon The Life of Cora Tanner, The Actress, Saint Paul Globe
7. (27 June 1893). Cora Tanner Col. Sinn's Wife, The New York Times
8. (5 October 1890). Cora Tanner at Albaugh's, Sunday Herald, p. 3, col. 1
9. (24 September 1896). Miss Tanner a Fixture, Phillipsburg Herald
10. (12 April 1902). Footlights, New York World, p. 6
11. (16 October 1886). Talks With Travelers, Omaha Daily Bee
12. Cora Tanner's Woes, Marble Hill Press
13. (25 February 1893). Cora Tanner's Husbands, National Police Gazette, p. 7
14. Bygone Days: A look at the past in NE Allegan County, under heading "75 Years Ago — March 30, 1945", "(Taken from the archives at the Then & Now Historical Library in downtown Dorr)", retrieved 5 January 2022
15. (22 December 1945) Coburn Spiels at Episcopal Actors' Guild Memorial, Billboard (mention of "Cora Tanner Reed" as among actors who died that year to be included in an annual commemorative service of the Episcopal Actor's Guild)

External links

• Cora Tanner at the Internet Broadway Database
• Collection of news clipping about Cora Tanner, focused on Alone in America, at robertbuchanan.co.uk