Toby Claude (born Harriette Mary Kavanagh; January 29, 1877 – October 27, 1962) was an Irish actress and singer in vaudeville, on the Broadway stage, and in silent films.
Early life Harriette Mary Kavanagh was born in Dublin. Her father Richard Kavanaugh was Irish; her mother Angelina Claude"Miss Toby Claude" English Illustrated Magazine (May 1899): 185. was an "English burlesque actress".Bertha C. Crowell, "A Chat with Toby Claude Who Means to be a Star" Los Angeles Herald (February 18, 1904): 6. She began using the name "Toby" as a girl, after a dog on the cover of Punch magazine."Toby Claude Took Name of Doggie" Honolulu Advertiser (March 13, 1910): 8. via Newspapers.com
Career
Toby Claude's stage credits included roles in The Belle of New York (1900), The Cadet Girl (1900), The Prima Donna (1901), Floradora (1902), The Belle of Broadway (1902), The Baroness Fiddlesticks (1904).Toby Claude, Broadway and Stage Credits, Broadway World. and Fantana (1906)."Fantana at the Belasco" The Index (May 12, 1906): 14. Theatre writers often mentioned her short stature (she was well under five feet in height): "Miss Toby Claude [is] almost sufficiently diminutive to rank as an eccentric Lilliputian," commented one in 1904."A Chinese Honeymoon" Town Talk (January 30, 1904): 29. Her vaudeville act included popular songs.Keith Lester, "Always Loving You; Song by Toby Claude on Vaudeville" Boston Daily Globe (August 1, 1909): SM15."Toby Claude in Keith's Vaudeville" Boston Daily Globe (January 19, 1915): 4. She toured Hawaii and Australia in 1910."Interview with Miss Toby Claude" Critic (October 19, 1910): 11. via Trove
During World War I she helped with military recruitment drives."Toby Claude, Actress, Out on Street Buttonholing 'Em to Enlist" Des Moines Tribune (April 24, 1917): 4. via Newspapers.com In middle age, Toby Claude appeared in five silent films: Lost: A Wife (1925, now lost),Untitled news item, Democrat and Chronicle (June 21, 1925): 50. via Newspapers.com The Clinging Vine (1926),"Leatrice Joy Has Excellent Role in 'The Clinging Vine'" News Review (February 26, 1927): 2. via Newspapers.com For Alimony Only (1926),Mordaunt Hall, "The Screen" New York Times (September 21, 1926): 33. No Control (1927),"No Control" Ithaca Journal (May 31, 1927): 3. via Newspapers.com and Turkish Delight (1927). In 1929 she was part of a group of actors who organized the Actors Theater in Los Angeles."New Actors Theater is Organized" Los Angeles Times (November 24, 1929): B15.
Personal life Toby Claude married fellow actor William P. Carleton; they divorced in 1903."Tiny Toby Claude Seeks a Divorce" Boston Daily Globe (May 21, 1903): 1. In 1915 she was involved in a scandal when she was found leaving America with another actress's husband and young child."Toby Claude and Actor Disappear with his Child" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (August 12, 1915): 9. via Newspapers.com"Actress Practiced Wiles on Partner" Quad-City Times (July 11, 1915): 6. via Newspapers.com She died on October 27, 1962, in Los Angeles, California, USA.
References
External links
A publicity photograph of Toby Claude, circa 1903, in her costume from A Chinese Honeymoon; in the Macauley's Theatre Collection of the University of Louisville Photographic Archives.