Draper's one-person shows differed in kind from the majority of the early lyceum and Chautauqua solo performers who preceded her, in that she portrayed original characters in her monologues/monodramas rather than drawing on selections from published literature.

Draper inspired characters in two of Christie's works: Carlotta Adams in the 1933 novel Lord Edgware Dies[11] and Aspasia Glen in the short story "The Dead Harlequin".

[citation needed] Christie wrote: "I thought how clever she was and how good her impersonations were; the wonderful way she could transform herself from a nagging wife to a peasant girl kneeling in a cathedral.

[12] Draper had many relationships in Italy, in large part through her connection with Lauro De Bosis, a young Italian poet and writer who died in 1931 after a daring flight over Rome during which he threw thousands of leaflets denouncing Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party.

[citation needed] Ruth Draper died on December 30, 1956, of an apparent heart attack,[13] just hours after giving a performance on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre.