Hazel Dawn

Hazel Dawn was an American stage, film and television actress, and violinist. She was born to a Mormon family in Utah, and studied music in Europe where her father was a missionary. Dawn rose to fame as the title character in Ivan Caryll's The Pink Lady, which opened in 1911 on Broadway and ran for over 300 performances; it earned Dawn the eponymous nickname. She performed extensively on Broadway and began work in film in 1914, appearing in a total of 13 feature films. Dawn died at age 98 in New York City.

Early life

Dawn was born Henrietta Hazel Tout in Ogden, Utah, in 1890. She went to Wales with her family at the age of eight when her father served as a Mormon missionary there. Dawn studied violin and voice in London, Paris, and Munich. She especially was impressed by the attentiveness of teachers she studied under in Paris. Her sister, Nancy Tout, was an opera singer who sang with the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

Career

Stage work

Dawn met producer Ivan Caryll at a party in London. Caryll suggested the stage name Hazel Dawn, considering Tout to be "impossible". She met composer Paul Rubens, who offered her a part in Dear Little Denmark at the Prince of Wales Theatre, where she made her theatrical debut. She then starred in The Balkan Princess in 1910 as Olga. She achieved great success with her performance in Caryll's Edwardian musical comedy The Pink Lady. The show ran for a total of 316 performances on Broadway and then toured, making Dawn famous. In the production, she introduced "My Beautiful Lady", which she sang and played on her violin. Subsequently, she was known as "The Pink Lady", and the Pink Lady cocktail may have been named for her.
She starred in the operetta The Debutante at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. under the management of John C. Fisher. Harry B. Smith wrote the book and play adaptation. The setting of the operetta is in London and Paris, and Dawn played a young American girl pursued by a nobleman who desires her fortune. In December, she appeared in The Debutante at the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington.
Other shows in which Dawn appeared include The Great Temptations, Avery Hopwood's Getting Gertie's Garter and The Demi-Virgin, as well as vaudeville productions. Her last appearance on Broadway was in Wonder Boy.
She emerged from retirement in June 1948 to appear on stage with her daughter Hazel Dawn Jr. in a revival of Ruth Gordon’s play Years Ago at the Casino Theatre in Newport, Rhode Island.

Transition to film

Dawn made her screen debut as Kate Shipley in One of Our Girls, beginning her association with the Famous Players–Lasky film compan. Dawn followed with roles in Niobe, Clarissa, The Masqueraders and The Fatal Card.
Dawn played a detective in the comedic/romantic mystery film My Lady Incog. In The Lone Wolf, she acted with Bert Lytell in an adaptation of a novel by Louis Joseph Vance. Her last film credit was Devotion.

Personal life

Dawn married Charles Edward Gruwell, a mining engineer from Montana, in 1927. Gruwell was purported to be one of the richest men in the Western U.S. The couple had two children, Dawn Gruwell and Charles E. Gruwell. Her daughter pursued a career as an actor and singer on film, television and Broadway under the name of Hazel Dawn Jr. Following Gruwell's death in 1941, Dawn worked in the casting department of J. Walter Thompson advertising agency. She retired in 1963.
Dawn was once the mascot of both the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy at one of their annual football games.

Death

Dawn died at the home of her daughter in Manhattan in 1988 at age 98.

Legacy

Actress Ruth Gordon cited Dawn as her inspiration for becoming an actress. A 14-year-old Adele Astaire saw Dawn's performance in The Pink Lady and idolized her, thinking her to be "the most lovely, graceful creature" she had seen.
In 1953, Dawn was portrayed by Kay Williams in the film The Actress.