Blanche Whiffen

Blanche Whiffen
Old Heads and Young Hearts ca. 1891
Born	Blanche Galton 1845 London, England
Died	1936
Occupation	Stage actress
Spouse	Thomas Whiffen

Blanche Galton Whiffen, known on stage as Mrs. Thomas Whiffen, (1845–1936) was an American actress born in London. She was educated in France; made her stage début at the Royalty Theatre, London, in 1865; came to America in 1868; and toured the United States under John Templeton's management.

In 1879 she played Buttercup in the first American production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Pinafore. She joined Daniel Frohman's stock company at his old Lyceum Theatre, where she appeared in more than 25 plays between 1887 and 1899 including The Wife (1887), The Charity Ball (1889), and Trelawny of the 'Wells' (1898). Later she was part of Charles Frohman's company at the Empire. She became Broadway's resident old lady character player after the death of Mrs. G. H. Gilbert in 1904. Mrs Whiffen in later years appeared in Zira (1905); The Great Divide (1905–07); The Builder of Bridges (1909); The Brass Bottle (1910); Electricity (1910); Cousin Kate (1912); Tante (1913); A Scrap of Paper (1914); Rosemary (1915). She was still active at 70 and a great favorite.

Bibliography

• Brown, Thomas Allston, A History of the New York Stage from the First Performance in 1732 to 1901, vol. III, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903.
• Chapman, John and Garrison P. Sherwood, ed., The Best Plays of 1894-1899, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1955.

External links

• Mrs. Whiffen
• Blanche Galton, 1868 (AlexanderStreet; North American Theatre Online)
• Works by Blanche Galton Whiffen at Open Library
• Mrs. Thomas Whiffen at IMDb 
• Mrs. Thomas Whiffen at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mrs. Thomas Whiffen at Playbill Vault