Gilda Varesi

Gilda Varesi, who was named for a character in Verdi's Rigoletto,[2] moved to Chicago as a child, with her family.

[3] Varesi started on stage in Chicago, with the Ben Greet Players, before joining Helena Modjeska's troupe,[4] then working with Minnie Maddern Fiske in Salvation Nell (1908) and Little Italy.

"[9] Varesi co-wrote (with Dolly Byrne) and starred in Enter Madame,[10] a comedy about an opera singer based on her mother,[11] who died months before the show opened on Broadway in 1920.

"[14] Enter Madame was adapted for the screen twice, as a silent film in 1922, starring Clara Kimball Young and Elliott Dexter, and as a sound picture in 1935, with Cary Grant and Elissa Landi.

Gilda Varesi was introduced to English lawyer John Gordon Archibald by actress Doris Keane and playwright Alfred Sutro in London.

Gilda Varesi, from a 1921 publication.