Shannon, Effie

(1867-1954)

   Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the actress enjoyed a 70-year career that began with her billing as "La Petite Shannon" when she played Little Eva in a Boston production of Uncle Tom's Cabin at age seven. In 1889, she became a member of David Belasco's company and married leading man Herbert Kelcey, with whom she appeared in Clyde Fitch's The Moth and the Flame (1891). Among her many credits are roles in Tangled Lives (1886), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1888), Shenandoah (1889), Her Lord andMaster (1902), Widowers 'Houses (1907), Years of Discretion (1912), Pollyanna (1917), Under Orders (1918), Heartbreak House (1920), The Youngest (1924), She Stoops to Conquer (1924), Trelawny of the "Wells" (1927), The Admirable Crichton (1931), Morning's at Seven* (1939), Juno and the Paycock (1940), and her last appearance in a three-year stint replacing Jean Adair* in Arsenic and Old Lace* in 1942.

   See also child performers.