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an estate of approximately $150,000. After the customary bequests to family, friends, and charities he left a final bequest to Green-Wood Cemetery of $5,000 for the future maintenance of his family mausoleum. Among the most noteworthy Irish expatriates reposing in Green-Wood is Matilda Heron – a famous actress in her day, with an erratic career and an equally erratic personal life. Born in Labby Vale, Draperstown, County Derry, on December 1, 1830, Heron emigrated to America with her family sometime in the 1840’s, arriving in Philadelphia. They quickly prospered, with her father soon owning a lumber mill and her older brother, Alexander, going into the steamship business, eventually establishing the Heron Line of Schooners. When Matilda’s father died, Alexander became patriarch of the clan. Matilda had always wanted to go into the theater, an ambition of which he did not approve. Eventually, however, she got her way, studying acting and making her debut at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She was soon performing in various cities, appearing in John Brougham’s adaptation of Dickens’ Dombey and Son, in which she was seen by Thomas Hamblin, manager of the Bowery Theatre. Hamblin offered her a job in New York, where her career took off. Matilda had a unique acting style for the time, which could be called “natural.” She was not given to exaggerated gestures or overdone speaking. This endeared her to many of the more discerning critics of the day. With her career moving along, Matilda decided to try her luck in California. The West was still frontier, and many residents were eager for whatever art and culture they could find, so it was attractive to theater people from the East. Matilda had a difficult journey, her manager dying on the way, and she arrived in San Francisco alone and broke. Her reputation preceded her, however, especially among the large Irish community. She became an overnight sensation, but soon foolishly married one of her biggest fans, a young Irish American district attorney with political aspirations named Henry Herbert Byrne. The marriage started to fail almost immediately and she left for New York. From there she went to France, intending to hone her acting skills. She was at this time estranged from her brother, which distressed her as they had always been close as children. An uncorroborated
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story of their reconciliation survives, according to which she was attending a performance when she was tapped on the shoulder and heard, “Tilly, that’s a play that would make your fortune, if you would translate it for America.” She turned and saw her brother. On that auspicious day, two life-changing events occurred: she and Alexander ended their
PHOTO: ONLINE ARCHIVE OF CALIFORNIA
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who was devoted to her and stayed close to her throughout her illness and death. Despite her two marriages Matilda always maintained that she was a devout Catholic and received the last rites. However, she requested that her funeral take place at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Manhattan, generally known as “The Little Church Around the Corner.” The church was packed to overflowing and the pallbearers had difficulty carrying her coffin through the dense crowd. Her coffin bore two nameplates: “Matilda Agnes Heron, died March 7, 1877 aged 46 years” and another, simply: “Camille.” Matilda’s daughter went on to become the well-known actress, Bijou Heron. She married the Broadway producer Henry Miller, for whom the Henry Miller Theater was named. Their son, Gilbert Miller, went on to become one of the most successful Broadway producers, putting on nearly one hundred hit plays before dying at age
Matilda Heron, an Irish-born American actress
estrangement and she discovered the play that would bring her stardom and success. The play was La Dame aux Camelias by Alexander Dumas, fils (illegitimate son of Alexander Dumas). It was based on a true story involving a courtesan. Matilda translated it, toned it down somewhat, and brought it to New York, where it was enthusiastically received. It was said that in her career she earned $150,000 from this play alone. But while her career was soaring, her marriage was declining, and she soon filed for divorce. Matilda was scarcely out of one bad marriage, however, when she began another. Robert Stoepel, a wellknown composer and conductor, pursued her relentlessly, soon winning her hand. Matilda was the recipient of bad legal advice and married Stoepel thinking her divorce from Byrne was final when it was not, making her a bigamist. Soon all three were at war, mostly over money, mostly Matilda’s. Byrne died and she left Stoepel, but her health declined. Stoepel and Matilda had a daughter, Helene (nicknamed Bijou by her mother)
Bijou Heron
85 in 1966. Thus, Matilda Heron, born in Ireland, established one of the wealthiest and most successful Broadway dynasties in New York. She lies buried under an elaborate Celtic Cross in a beautiful section of Green-Wood, along with her daughter, Bijou, and her husband, Henry, and also, curiously, Robert Stoepel. Another actress who did very well on the New York stage was Ada Rehan. Born Delia Crehan in 1859 in Limerick, she was brought to Brooklyn by her parents at age five. She had an early inclination for the theater, which her parents encouraged. In her first role she was mistakenly billed as Ada C. Rehan, but she liked the name and continued to use it, dropping the “C.” As Ada Rehan, she rose quickly in the FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013 IRISH AMERICA 43