Tragic actress Helena Modjeska (1840-1909) was born in Poland into a large family with the name Helena Opid. Her paternity has been somewhat disputed, but she claims her father was Michael Opid, a teacher of music and lover of the arts. While some doubt he was her father, he was no doubt at least her godfather and lived with the family, recognizing and encouraging Helena's early musical and dramatic flair. Older siblings joined the acting profession, and at sixteen years of age she attempted to do so as well, although her debut was a laughable failure. Within a few years she had joined a traveling company (other members of which were two of her older brothers), and she began receiving attention. She had changed her last name to Modezejewska in the intervening years through marriage to an old friend of the family, and he was one of those who helped establish the touring troupe. Touring Poland and Germany for the next several years, she honed her talents, had two children, and left her husband. She married a Polish nobleman in 1868 and together they emigrated to the United States in 1876. Their dream of becoming California ranchers died quickly, however, and Modjeska (her shortened name) quickly set about learning English so she could return to the stage, which she did in San Francisco in 1877 as Adrienne Lecouvreur. She had her New York debut later that year in the same role, and her success was immediate. After three years in Europe and London working on her English and performing there, she returned to America in 1882 to even more fame and fortune. By the late 1880s, she was performing alongside Edwin Booth during the last years of his career. She was known as the preeminent American Shakespearean actress of her generation and toured both America and Europe multiple times during her career. Her favorite and most notable roles were Juliet, Ophelia, Queen Anne in Richard III and Nora in A Doll's House, which she initiated the first performance of in the United States in Louisville, KY. She retired to and died in Newport Beach, CA, the first actor celebrity to settle in Southern CA. In 1897, Modjeska was on tour in the United States and gave this autograph. She signs it Here I am. The autograph was written on a blank sheet of stationery paper and also contains the autograph of Minnie Maddern Fiske (1865-1932), which was contributed in 1900. Minnie Maddern Fiske, in 1900, was a new star to the American stage. Although born into a theatrical family and thrust onto the stage by the age of 2, she took three years off upon her marriage to Harrison Grey Fiske in 1890. Fiske thereafter managed her career, and by 1897, then already well-known, she had her first hit in an adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, followed in 1899 with a starring role in Becky Sharp, an adaptation of Vanity Fair. During the first quarter of the twentieth century she was one of the foremost American actresses, including in her repertoire many of Ibsen's roles, of whom she had the utmost respect and believed his characters to be much more difficult to interpret than Shakespeare's. Production(s) represented: Drury Lane. Artistic role(s) represented: