Charlotte Parry

Biography

After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Charlotte Parry began her professional career as a mimic, imitating stage personalities of the 1890s. She left touring in 1896, settling in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she gave birth to two children. On the death of her first husband, Frank M. Smith, she resumed an active stage career, becoming a highly-regarded "protean artist", specializing in playlets in which she played all (or nearly all) of the characters, rapidly changing costumes, accents and mannerisms. In 1906, she became a critical and popular success in "The Comstock Mystery", a playlet authored by W. H. Clifford; Miss Parry portrayed seven of the eight roles. By 1913, she had found a new vehicle for her talents, "Into the Light", a psychological fantasy written by Frank Lyman. While the subject matter was different, the structure was similar, with Miss Parry assuming multiple parts, though she disdained being tagged as a "quick-change artist". Toward the end of the decade, she introduced another routine, "Song & Story of the City", but on several occasions she returned to her first major success, reviving "The Comstock Mystery". From the 1920s, she spent increasing amounts of time living in London and performing in Europe, having married Joshua Lowe, the London representative of "Variety", better known to readers as "Jolo". When Lowe was killed in an accident after World War II, Charlotte retired from acting and returned to the United States, residing with her daughter Aline. Aline had married Colonel Laurence Cramer, one-time governor of the U. S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Parry died at the home of her daughter on 2 November 1959 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.