Cook was born Madge Carr on June 28, 1856, in Yorkshire, England.

She debuted on stage at age 3, portraying Fleance in Macbeth in Sunderland, England.

[2] Cook portrayed Mrs. Hunter in the premiere of Clyde Fitch's The Climbers at the Bijou Theatre in 1901.

[3] She was most famous for creating the title role in the 1904 Broadway play Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.

[5] Cook died on September 20, 1933, aged 77, at the home of her daughter in Syosset, Long Island, New York.