Laurette Taylor

Laurette Taylor – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Laurette Taylor (April 1, 1883/1884 – December 7, 1946) was a groundbreaking American stage actress known for her emotional intensity, imaginative technique, and landmark performance in The Glass Menagerie. Explore her biography, career, legacy, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Laurette Taylor remains one of the most compelling and enigmatic figures in early 20th-century American theatre. A luminous talent whose stage presence seemed to transcend technique, she forged a career defined by emotional intimacy, intuitive style, and a rare ability to make every performance feel fresh and alive. Although she performed in very few films, her legacy lies in her theatrical mastery and the devotion she inspired among actors who followed. Her portrayal of Amanda Wingfield in the original production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie is often hailed as one of the greatest stage performances in American drama.

Her life was marked by triumphs, struggle, reinvention, and deep artistic passion. In this article, we will trace her early life, rise to stardom, later years, and lasting influence — and also explore the wisdom she left behind in her few but resonant quotes.

Early Life and Family

Laurette Taylor was born Loretta Helen Cooney on April 1, 1883 (some sources give 1884) in New York City to James Cooney and Elizabeth Dorsey Cooney.

Not much is documented about her very early childhood or schooling. Some sources mention that she made early appearances in vaudeville, billed as La Belle Laurette in her youth.

Youth and Education

While formal education in acting training is not well documented for Taylor, her formative years in the theater began through small performances and stock companies. She gradually built experience across regional and touring stages before breaking into more notable New York theatrical work.

Her Broadway debut came in The Great John Ganton in 1908. The Ringmaster, Alias Jimmy Valentine, Seven Sisters, and Lola.

By around 1910, she had made a name for herself in Alias Jimmy Valentine and The Bird of Paradise.

Career and Achievements

Breakthrough & Marriage to J. Hartley Manners

Her first marriage (in 1901) was to Charles A. Taylor, a theatrical producer, when she was still young. They had two children, Dwight Oliver Taylor and Marguerite Courtney, but that marriage ended in divorce around 1910.

In December 1912, she married British-born playwright J. Hartley Manners, who would write several plays tailored to her strengths, including Peg O’ My Heart. Peg O’ My Heart premiered in December 1912, and became a massive hit, running for 607 performances on Broadway (a record at the time). Peg O’ My Heart was revived on Broadway with 692 performances.

She also starred in Manners’s other plays: Out There (1917), Happiness (1918), and One Night in Rome (around 1919) among others.

Film Work

Although her focus remained the stage, she appeared in very few films, all of them adaptations of her husband’s plays:

• Peg O’ My Heart (1922), directed by King Vidor, starring Taylor.

• Happiness (1924), again directed by King Vidor, based on Manners’s play.

• One Night in Rome (1924), directed by Clarence G. Badger.

While she had opportunities for further film work (including a sound test in 1938 for The Young in Heart), she declined further film roles.

Mid-Career Challenges & Return

As theatrical tastes changed in the 1920s and beyond, her style, often tied to sentimentality, began to feel less in tune with the evolving dramatic sensibilities of audiences and critics.

She struggled with alcoholism in later years, which affected her reliability and output. Outward Bound on Broadway.

Her most remarkable later triumph came in 1945 when she returned to Broadway to originate Amanda Wingfield in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie. Her performance was met with near-unanimous critical acclaim, and she won the New York Drama Critics’ Award for Best Actress of the season.

Acting Philosophy & Style

Laurette Taylor believed that imagination, emotional truth, and internal life were more important than external technique or beauty. In her essay “The Quality Most Needed”, she argued against performances that show “acting,” urging actors to feel rather than display.

Her performances were often described as spontaneous, intimate, and alive. Critics noted her use of pacing, subtle glances, unfinished gestures, and absorption in her fellow actors’ lines.

In 1945, she was voted Best Actress in a poll by Variety.

Historical Milestones & Context

• Broadway in the early 1900s was dominated by melodrama and declamatory styles; Taylor’s naturalism marked a turning point in how emotional subtlety could be conveyed on stage.

• Peg O’ My Heart (1912) was a phenomenon: its long run, national tour, and enduring popularity made Taylor a household name.

• The rise of film in the 1910s and 1920s created new opportunities, but Taylor remained primarily a stage artist.

• The Great Depression and cultural shifts in the 1930s challenged many stage stars; Taylor’s personal struggles and changing taste made sustaining stardom difficult.

• Her late-career revival in The Glass Menagerie in 1945 came at a time when American drama was evolving, and her performance was seen as a bridge between theatrical traditions and modern realism.

• After her death, actors and teachers (notably Uta Hagen) cited her as an exemplar of acting built from inner life and emotional truth.

Legacy and Influence

Laurette Taylor’s impact on theatre and acting extended far beyond her relatively limited filmography.

• Influence on actors and acting technique: Uta Hagen called her an “idol” and highlighted Taylor’s approach: she did not fully identify a role until she was “wearing the underpants of the character.”

• Artistic integrity: She taught a generation of actors that the internal life of a character matters more than external mannerisms.

• Preservation of performances: Sadly, few full recordings of her work survive. However, a rare 1938 screen test and archival photos, papers, and letters remain in collections such as the Harry Ransom Center.

• Tributes and memorials: After her death, Tennessee Williams explicitly honored her influence. Jennie, opened on Broadway in 1963. Laurette Taylor Award given by Theatre East in her memory.

• Her interpretation of Amanda Wingfield has become legendary, often studied by actors tackling The Glass Menagerie.

Personality and Talents

Laurette Taylor was known for her emotional volatility, charm, and unpredictability. She was said to host guests at home where she would replay her own films repeatedly. Hay Fever, though that event also strained their friendship when he satirically leaned on her idiosyncratic household.

Her moods and dependencies sometimes made her difficult to work with, especially in her later years. Alcoholism hampered her consistency and opportunities, but she battled back into public view.

Yet friends and admirers often emphasized her warmth, wit, and dedication to her art. Tennessee Williams’s tribute referenced the “great warmth of her heart” and the “radiance about her art.”

Her imaginative talent allowed her to keep performances fresh — even in long runs — by constantly renewing emotional detail and nuance rather than repeating. This quality made her performances feel alive to theatergoers.

Famous Quotes of Laurette Taylor

Though she was not prolific as a writer of aphorisms, a few thoughtful lines survive and encapsulate her philosophy toward art, creativity, and character:

• “Personality is more important than beauty, but imagination is more important than both of them.”

• “Acting is the physical representation of a mental picture and the projection of an emotional concept.”

• “Instinct is the direct connection with truth.”

• “I sometimes forget a face, but I never forget a back.”

• “Beautiful women seldom want to act. They are afraid of emotion ...”

These quotes reflect her conviction that emotional truth, memory, imagination, and instinct are central to art — more so than external appearance or technique.

Lessons from Laurette Taylor

1. Art from the inside out
   Taylor believed that an actor’s internal life—their emotional truth and imagination—is more critical than outward mannerisms. True character emerges when you inhabit a role fully, not just perform it.

2. Constant reinvention
   Even during long runs of a play like Peg O’ My Heart, she sought to refresh her performance moment to moment, resisting repetition.

3. Courage to decline
   Though she had opportunities in film, she stuck to what she felt matched her strengths. She turned down roles she felt compromised her artistry.

4. Resilience and comeback
   Her personal struggles and changing theatrical climate did not prevent her from returning in her later years with a performance so powerful that it would define her legacy.

5. Influence beyond fame
   Her fewer preserved films belie the fact that her approach shaped generations of actors and acting teachers — often more in principle than in filmed performance.

Conclusion

Laurette Taylor’s life reminds us that greatness in the arts is not defined solely by volume or mass fame, but by the depth, integrity, and emotional truth in one’s work. A woman of undeniable talent, she embraced risk, inner life, and creative instinct — even when the path was rocky. Her portrayal as Amanda Wingfield remains an acting legend, but her influence runs deeper: she taught that authenticity, imagination, and instinct are fundamental to art.

To explore more inspirational words from legends like Taylor, dive into anthologies of acting wisdom or revisit her few recorded performances and archival writings. Her voice still speaks — quietly, intimately — to every actor who seeks truth on stage.

— May her legacy continue to inspire creative souls.