stage and film actress, suffragist, motion picture exhibitor
Years active
1912–1933
Fannie Bourke, also known as Fan BourkeorFannie Burke, (July 12, 1886 – March 9, 1959) was an American stage and film actress, suffragist, and motion picture exhibitor. She worked on Broadway and appeared in silent films from the 1910s until the early 1930s.
Fannie Bourke was born on July 12, 1886, in Brooklyn, New York. She began her career as a vaudeville performer, pianist, and dancer, and was known for singing "dialect songs" and impersonating "every possible nationality."[1] She appeared on Broadway in the play Mere Man in 1912.[2]
In late 1915, Bourke took over a failing 500-seat movie theatre, The Princess, in New Rochelle, New York (where Thanhouser had its studio); she transformed it into a "votes for women" movie theatre, with a lobby decorated in women's suffrage banners.[4] In addition to showing Mutual Film pictures, including Thanhouser films in which she appeared, Bourke performed every Wednesday. She hired another former Thanhouser actress, Julia Miller, to play the piano at the theatre. She also hosted events for the local women's clubs.[4][5]
Bourke later appeared in The Love Expert[6] (1920) and Lummox (1930), her only known sound film role. She continued appearing on Broadway through the 1920s and early 1930s.[7]
