Carlotta Nillson

Carlotta Nillson
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Born	(1876-02-25)February 25, 1876 Småland, Sweden
Died	December 30, 1951(1951-12-30) (aged 75) New York City, New York, USA
Occupation	Actress

Carlotta Nillson (February 25, 1876 – December 30, 1951) was a Swedish-born American actress who appeared in at least ten Broadway productions over the first decade of the twentieth century. She was probably best remembered for her portrayal of Rhys Macchesney in the play, The Three of Us.

Carlotta Nillson was born on February 25, 1876, inSmåland, Sweden and was raised by her widowed mother. When she was about ten her mother brought her to America where they first settled in Wisconsin and later Minnesota. Nillson's mother was very poor at the time and it was soon decided that she should live with a more affluent neighbor with a large family. Though too young to be a nanny, Nillson was expected to entertain the younger children of the household. Because of her circumstances Nillson was not a happy child (later describing herself as being "born old”) and at first found this chore somewhat challenging. This she overcame when it was discovered she had a knack for conjuring up fairy tales rich with goblins, sea pirates and fairies who lived in ice caves along the North Sea.

Several years later Nillson and her mother moved to San Francisco where the young teenager managed to be hired as a walk-on player with Madame Modjeska’s stock company. Nillson's stage debut followed in a road production of Friedrich Schiller's play Mary Stuart. Modjeska had noticed how emotional Nillson became during Mary’s (Modjeska) execution scene and cast her as one of the maids that accompanied the Scottish Queen to the scaffold.

Carlotta Nillson later moved to New York where she worked for Augustine Daly for a time and then went on a grueling forty-week tour of one-night stands as the ingénue in William Gillette's The Private Secretary (a.k.a. Digbey's Secretary) and later toured in John Stetson’s The Crust of Society. After touring in Bronson Howard's Civil War play Shenandoah, Nillson decided to take some time off to hone her craft in England under the tutelage of William Farren Jr. and Genevieve Ward. She returned to the theatre in 1898 as Mrs. Dasney in the West End production of Pearl Craigie's The Ambassador at the St. James Theatre and the following year at Terry's Theatre as Evelyn in The Happy Life.