Kate Josephine Bateman

Kate Josephine Bateman Crowe (October 7, 1842 – April 8, 1917) was an American actress. She started out as a child actor with her sister Ellen Bateman, but it was Kate who later developed a career in romantic leading parts. Early life and childhood acting Kate Josephine Bateman was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman, was an actor and theatrical manager. Her mother, Sidney Frances Bateman, was a playwright, theatrical manager, and actor, and her maternal grandfather Joseph Cowell was a comic actor. Bateman and one of her sisters, Ellen, showed early theatrical talent, and the senior Batemans devoted themselves to managing their daughters' careers. Kate began appearing on stage by the age of five, at a time when child prodigies were something of a rage in the United States. After performing with Ellen around the Midwest and Southeast for a couple of years, the girls debuted in New York in 1849; their show included excerpts from several of Shakespeare's plays. The showman P. T. Barnum put them on a large salary to appear at his museum, and in 1850-52 he sponsored their tour of Great Britain as 'The Bateman Children'. This was followed by a long tour of the United States that took the girls to California. In 1856, Kate and Ellen retired from child acting. Later acting career In 1859, the Bateman family moved to New York, and the following March, sixteen-year-old Kate appeared in her mother's adaptation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline at New York's Winter Garden. This role launched Bateman on her adult career as an actor, and she eventually became known primarily for romantic roles like Shakespeare's Juliet and Pauline in The Lady of Lyons as well as leading roles in melodramas. Another early success was as Julia in The Hunchback in 1862.