Elitch Theatre launched or hosted notable performers whose later achievements reached the highest levels of American stage and screen. Denver native Antoinette Perry first appeared there in 1899 in her first time on stage, then returned for larger roles in 1904 and 1908; she later became an actress, director, and producer, helped found the American Theatre Wing to promote theatre, and after her death in 1946 gave her name to the Tony Awards, formally the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre. In 1905, the young actor Cecil B. DeMille appeared in minor roles in eleven of fifteen productions during the summer season and later became a pioneering Hollywood director and producer of films including The Ten Commandments (1923), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and The Ten Commandments (1956). Douglas Fairbanks had his first stage experience there as a boy, earning a ticket to a Shakespeare performance by scrubbing the stage, and within a few years appeared as an actor, with Mary Elitch identifying his first appearance as Reginald Lumley in Cousin Kate in 1906. Sarah Bernhardt and her French company arrived there in 1906, beginning a memorable meeting with Mary Elitch. In the summer of 1951, Grace Kelly joined the resident stock company before she became an Oscar-winning movie star and Princess of Monaco. Debbie Reynolds appeared in 1970 and 1986, drawing praise for a lively performance that included singing, dancing, joking with the audience, and mingling with the crowd. Vincent Price, fresh from the theatrical success of Diversions and Delights on Broadway, appeared there in the summer of 1979 after performing the role of Oscar Wilde at Leadville's Tabor Opera House.

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Denver, Colorado · USA