Georgia O'Ramey (January 1, 1883 – April 2, 1928) was an American actress in comedies and musical theatre.
Early life O'Ramey was born in Fredericktown, Ohio to William B. O'Ramey and Emma Anquilla "Tude" Pearce. She attended Oberlin College.Matthew White, Jr., "The Stage" Munsey's Magazine (March 1916): 337.
Career
O'Ramey played violin in revues as a young woman."'Wizard of Oz' and 'Miss Mazuma' Will Be Played This Week" San Francisco Call (September 18, 1904): 19. via California Digital Newspaper Collection She acted, sang and danced regularly in Broadway musicals and comedies through the 1910s, with roles in the shows Lonesome Town (1906–1908), The Chaperon (1908–1909), Seven Days (1909–1910),"Astor: Seven Days" New York Dramatic Mirror (November 20, 1909): 5. The Point of View (1912), The Switchboard (1913), A Pair of White Gloves (1913), Dancing Around (1914–1915), Around the Map (1915–1916), Miss Springtime (1916–1917), Leave It to Jane (1917–1918),David A. Jasen, A Century of American Popular Music (Routledge 2013): 37–38. The Velvet Lady (1919),"New Amsterdam: The Velvet Lady" Theatre Magazine (March 1919): 143. Daffy Dill (1922),"Daffy Dill" Musical Courier (August 31, 1922): 40. Jack and Jill (1923),"Georgia O'Ramey is Home Again in 'Jack and Jill'" Buffalo Courier (March 11, 1923): 18. via Newspapers.com and No, No, Nanette (1925–1926).Stanley Green, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show (Hal Leonard Corporation 2011). Gerald Martin Bordman, Richard Norton, American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle (Oxford University Press 2010): 232, 374, 388, 430.
O'Ramey appeared in one silent film, The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot (1914). She also had stints in vaudeville."Georgia O'Ramey Pleases Belasco Vaudeville Fans" Washington Times (February 6, 1922): 10. via Newspapers.com "Every day I am adding to my vaudeville vocabulary," she confessed in 1920, "and when I go back to the legitimate I am afraid my friends who have never been in vaudeville will not understand me.""Vaudeville Twice as Hard as the 'Legitimate' Stage, Insists Georgia O'Ramey", New-York Tribune (February 15, 1920): 36. via Newspapers.com During World War I, she and her costar Oscar Shaw posed for photos to promote Liberty Loans."Leave it to Jane Pair First New Loan Buyers" Philadelphia Inquirer (September 22, 1918): 22. via Newspapers.com
Personal life O'Ramey married businessman Robert B. Griffin in 1912 in Greenwich, Connecticut."Georgia O'Ramey Will Wed" New York Times (May 22, 1912): 13. They later divorced. After weeks of headaches,"Miss O'Ramey Long Ill" New York Times (April 4, 1928): 27. she died suddenly on April 2, 1928 at a hotel in New Haven, Connecticut, just hours before the opening night of the show Nize Girl, in which she was to star. She was survived by her parents, her only known immediate survivors. Her obituary in the New York Times noted that she was "Distinguished on the American stage for a dozen years as one of the few woman comedians who could successfully sustain a broad burlesque role.""Georgia O'Ramey, Stage Star, is Dead" New York Times (April 3, 1928): 32."Georgia O'Ramey Funeral" New York Times (April 6, 1928): 23. The Baltimore Sun recalled as "one of the best of our woman clowns. In a fuller sense than many of the others, she had the comedy spirit.""Georgia O'Ramey's Death" Baltimore Sun (April 8, 1928): 59. via Newspapers.com She left her estate to her parents and to the Actors Fund of America."Georgia O'Ramey Estate $11,995" New York Times (April 10, 1931): 27. ]
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