The New International Encyclopædia/Fisher, Clara

FISHER, Clara (1811-98). A popular actress; after 1834 the wife of the composer J. G. Maeder. She was born in London, July 14, 1811, and first made a sensation on the boards of Drury Lane when she was about six years old (December 10, 1817) as Lord Flimnap, the Prime Minister of Lilliput, and in a part in Richard III. After ten years of prosperity in various British theatres, her precocious versatility showing itself even in such an ill-chosen role as that of Shylock, she came with her family to America, where she made her appearance late in 1827. Her charms, both as an actress and as a singer, were largely those of manner. Ophelia and Viola were her best Shakespearean parts, and as Lady Teazle she won many successes; but her favorite characters were such as Clari in The Maid of Milan, and the Four Mowbrays in Old and Young. She died at Metuchen, N. J. Consult: the Autobiography of Clara Fisher Maeder, edited by Douglas Taylor (Dunlap Society, New York, 1897); Ireland, in Matthew and Huttun. ed., Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1886).