Lillian Russell (born Helen Louise Leonard; December 4, 1860 or 1861[1] – June 6, 1922) was an American actress and singer.

She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, praised for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.

She began to perform professionally by 1879, singing for Tony Pastor and playing roles in comic opera, including Gilbert and Sullivan works.

For many years, she was the foremost singer of operettas and musical theatre in the United States, performing continuously through the end of the 19th century.

Russell was married four times, but her longest relationship was with Diamond Jim Brady, who supported her extravagant lifestyle for four decades.

In later years, she wrote a newspaper column, advocated women's suffrage, was a popular lecturer, and contributed to the passage of the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924.

Walter's mother helped Russell get a chorus job (as Nellie Leonard) with Edward E. Rice, who was touring his musical Evangeline to Boston beginning in September 1879,[6] together with Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S.

At his suggestion, she chose a stage name, Lillian Russell, and Pastor introduced her as an "English ballad singer".

Russell met composer Edward Solomon later in 1882 at Pastor's New York Casino Theatre where he was the season's musical director and she became the star.

Her voice, stage presence and beauty were the subject of a great deal of fanfare in the news media, and she was extremely popular with audiences.

From New York City, Russell sang the saber song from La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein to audiences in Boston and Washington, D.C. She rode a bicycle custom made for her by Tiffany & Co.

It was a gold-plated machine that displayed the jeweler's art at its most opulent and unconventional – the handlebars inlaid with mother-of-pearl and the wheel spokes featuring her initials set in diamonds.

She had "a cream serge leg-of-mutton sleeve cycling suit with the skirt shortened by three inches, which caused a sensation and set a trend.

"[25] She married tenor John Haley Augustin Chatterton (known professionally as Signor Giovanni Perugini) in 1894, but they soon separated, and in 1898, they divorced.

Before the 1902 production of Twirly-Whirly, John Stromberg, who had composed several hit songs for her, delayed giving Russell her solo for several days, saying that it was not ready.

When he committed suicide a few days before the first rehearsal, sheet music for "Come Down Ma Evenin' Star" was discovered in his coat pocket.

Russell lived, for a time, in suite 437 of the hotel, now located in the offices of the student newspaper, The Pitt News.

[27] Beginning around 1912, Russell wrote a newspaper column, became active in the women's suffrage movement (as her mother had been), and was a popular lecturer on personal relationships, health and beauty, advocating an optimistic philosophy of self-help and drawing large crowds.

According to The New York Times, she "established a precedent by acting as Chairman of the ship's concert, the first woman, so far as the records show, to preside at an entertainment on shipboard.

[32] Russell suffered apparently minor injuries on the return trip, which, however, led to complications, and she died after ten days of illness at her home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[4] Thousands of people lined the route of her military funeral,[33] attended by many actors and politicians; President Harding sent a wreath that was set atop her casket.

[34] Lillian Russell's friend Diamond Jim Brady was a significant owner of thoroughbred racehorses and may have influenced her decision to become involved in the sport.

In August 1906, her press agent announced she had acquired eight colts sired by the New Zealand stallion Carbine for her new thoroughbred racing stable.

It was directed by Irving Cummings, and stars Alice Faye as Russell, with Henry Fonda, Don Ameche, Edward Arnold and Warren William.