Biography

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders (koosh'mun) [key], 1816–76, one of the first outstanding American actresses, b. Boston. Cushman turned from opera to drama and in 1835 first played Lady Macbeth, the role in which she was said to be unequaled. Her portrayals of Romeo and Hamlet won her popular favor, but her most celebrated role was Meg Merrilies in Scott's Guy Mannering. An actress of dramatic power and regal bearing, she was the first of her profession to be elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (1915).
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See biography by J. Leach (1970); J. Markus, Across an Untried Sea (2000).