Kathleen Clifford (February 16, 1887 – December 28, 1962) was an American vaudeville and Broadway stage and film actress of the early twentieth century. She was known for her skills as a male impersonator.
Clifford initially built her acting on the vaudeville stages as a comedian. She was renowned for her impersonations of men[3] and was often humorously billed as "The Smartest Chap in Town".[3] She often pretended to have been born in England.[4] At one point, as a male impersonator, she was working as a duo with female impersonatorBothwell Browne.[5]
Clifford debuted on Broadway in 1902 as a member of the chorus in Tommy Rot. Her other Broadway credits included A Pair of Queens (1916), A Winsome Widow (1912), A Night with the Pierrots / Sesostra / The Whirl of Society (1912), The Belle of London Town, and Fad and Folly (1902).[6]
By 1904, Clifford had joined Edna Wallace Hopper's supporting company in vaudeville. She progressed from that status to musical comedies in which she danced and had small featured roles.[1]
Clifford served during the early years of World War I as a Red Cross nurse with the British Army in France, and was awarded honorary colonelcy of a Canadian regiment.[7]
With the advent of talkies Clifford settled into semi-retirement. She made only one film during the early years of sound film; The Bride's Bereavement, a comedy short featuring several former silent film stars such as Aileen Pringle, Montagu Love, Luis Alberni, and Charles Ray.
Clifford also wrote a novel, It's April. . . Remember?, about her time in Hollywood.[4]
Clifford died at the age of 75 in Los Angeles, California in 1962. She was buried in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, her husband's former home.[citation needed]
Filmography
Clifford in Who is Number One?, 1917
The Bride's Bereavement (alternate title: The Snake in the Grass) (1932)
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