Nance O'Neil

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dalcanton
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Nance O'Neil

Post by dalcanton »

Nance O'Neil was 91-yrs-old when she died (1874-1965). Are there any photos of her as an elderly woman? Does anyone have a link? I couldn't find one.

I wasn't sure how long she & Lizzie were friends, but I found this quote from a Lizzie horoscope:

"While there has never been any significant evidence that the two were intimate, the termination of the relationship two years later in 1906 was a significant loss to Borden, and she is alleged to have had difficulty in recovering emotionally."

Is it known (or at least speculated) why she & Lizzie parted company? I'm very curious.

Also, I remember reading a Nance interview where she referred to her relationship w/Lizzie as "ships passing in the night."
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1bigsteve
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Post by 1bigsteve »

Good question. I don't know much about Nance but she may have been one of the few friends Lizzie had. She was 14 years younger so the age difference may have been a factor in their break. Has anyone ever written a biography book on Nance's life?

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Tina-Kate
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Post by Tina-Kate »

The following is an excellent book with a big hefty chunk about Nance O'Neil, probably the closest so far we've seen for a bio:

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/McK ... UxFsiBU%3d

Image

Lizzie & Nance were absolutely NOT "Ships that Pass in the Night". Lizzie was involved with legal issues that Nance & Rankin were experiencing. There has been evidence in personal letters that Nance borrowed money from Lizzie. Lizzie supposedly visited Nance's estate in Tyngsboro, and Nance visited Maplecroft.

Many tales yet to be told!
“I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.”
—Lizzie A. Borden, June 20, 1893
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Shelley
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Post by Shelley »

I've never seen a full volume bio- usually a page or two on Nance in a tome about actresses of her period. Maybe somebody here should write one! Word was that if the dark and exotic Theda Bara had not been around, Nance would have gotten her plummy roles and would have been a hotter property in Hollywood. Oh Theda! They don't make 'em like this anymore-
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Post by kssunflower »

Theda was quite the vamp for her era, competing with wholesome Mary Pickford. Mary was married to Buddy Rogers, who is from my hometown in Kansas.
"To wives and sweethearts - may they never meet."
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Kat
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Post by Kat »

How did we get from Nance to Theda Bara? :smile:

As for TK- she is unassuming, yet she wrote a very extensive bio article on our Nance for The Hatchet that she rarely mentions! :smile:
Feb/March, 2005
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Shelley
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Post by Shelley »

I found one or two articles on line- short ones actually which mention the fact that Theda Bara and her sultry look and buzz around her cornered the market and roles Nance O'Neil would have been ripe for getting- that's how we got to Theda Bara. From NY Times

"About This Person
From All Movie Guide: A major stage star who played Lady Macbeth, Hedda Gabler, and Camille, the tall (nearly six feet) Nance O'Neil was reportedly the lover of murderess Lizzie Borden. A notorious spendthrift always in financial trouble, O'Neil was one of the first of her generation of actresses to embrace motion pictures. Signing with producer William Fox, she starred in a 1915 screen version of Leo Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata. Although receiving favorable reviews, the veteran star was somewhat upstaged by the colorful Theda Bara, and it was Bara who would become Fox's major dramatic star, not the aging O'Neil. The latter continued to appear in films through 1917 -- including playing the Czarina in The Fall of the Romanoffs -- but moviegoers never truly warmed up to her and she returned to the stage. O'Neil was back in the new, audible Hollywood by 1929, supporting John Gilbert and Catherine Dale Owen in the ill-fated His Glorious Night. Neither Gilbert nor Owen had much future in sound films, but O'Neil lent her considerable presence to scores of early talkies, including appearing as the mother superior in Call of the Flesh, the Grand Mere in Their Mad Moment (1931), and unbilled as Mrs. Von Stael in Westward Passage. Nance O'Neil was briefly the wife of actor Alfred Hickman (1872-1931). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Go to Complete Biography »"
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Angel
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Post by Angel »

According to IMDb Nance was married to Hickman from 1916 to 1931. Could it be they were together briefly but then were married in name only after that until he died?
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Post by jcurrie »

There's a photo of Nance O'Neil on the IMDB site. I think it was taken in the 1910s or 1920s.
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Kat
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Post by Kat »

The picture of Nance O'Neil at The Library of Congress they now report may not be her. Stefani had assured me it was not Nance many years ago when I first found it online- she was right!
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Kashesan
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Post by Kashesan »

Angel @ Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:16 pm wrote:According to IMDb Nance was married to Hickman from 1916 to 1931. Could it be they were together briefly but then were married in name only after that until he died?
Hickman seems to have settled into Hollywood more comfortably than Nance. He taught acting while there and Nance kept apartments at the Gorham Hotel in New York where she continued to work on stage (when not taking an occasional film role out west)

When Hickman died of a stroke, she moved all of her belongings to New York where she lived with another woman. She was friends with artist Paul Swan who painted her portrait when she was seventy. This is a study of it that I own.

:smiliecolors: k
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Tina-Kate
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Post by Tina-Kate »

Here's a very similar portrait on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Rare-1953-PAUL-S ... 0098235968
“I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.”
—Lizzie A. Borden, June 20, 1893
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Kashesan
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Post by Kashesan »

Nance's portrait was a lot more costly than Sigvard's. She was also listed as "Lizzie Borden's lover" at e-auction; I wonder if that added a chunk-of-change to the price? (I'm sure)

:0)

:smiliecolors: k
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Harry
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Post by Harry »

I thought at first the reference was to this item on EBay. This was a new one to me.

http://tinyurl.com/m2wfum

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Kashesan
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Post by Kashesan »

She will never be free of Lizzie. Lizzie has won her.

:smiliecolors: k
"It seemed friendly enough, but it had sharp claws and a great many teeth. Alice thought it best to treat it with respect"
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Tina-Kate
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Post by Tina-Kate »

Kashesan @ Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:03 am wrote:She will never be free of Lizzie. Lizzie has won her.

:smiliecolors: k
:shock:

Never thought of it that way...but that's true!
“I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.”
—Lizzie A. Borden, June 20, 1893
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Kashesan
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Post by Kashesan »

It was Lizzie that led me to Nance; a double sided blessing.
;0)

:smiliecolors: k
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Kashesan
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Post by Kashesan »

Kashesan @ Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:41 am wrote:
Angel @ Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:16 pm wrote:According to IMDb Nance was married to Hickman from 1916 to 1931. Could it be they were together briefly but then were married in name only after that until he died?
Hickman seems to have settled into Hollywood more comfortably than Nance. He taught acting while there and Nance kept apartments at the Gorham Hotel in New York where she continued to work on stage (when not taking an occasional film role out west)


:smiliecolors: k
"It seemed friendly enough, but it had sharp claws and a great many teeth. Alice thought it best to treat it with respect"
Lewis Carroll
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