Adah Isaacs Menken

Adah Isaacs Menken (June 15, 1835 – August 10, 1868), was an American actress, painter and poet, the highest earning actress of her time. She was best known for her performance in the melodrama Mazeppa, with a climax that featured her apparently nude and riding a horse on stage. After great success for a few years with the play in New York and San Francisco, she appeared in a production in London and Paris, from 1864-66. After a brief trip back to the United States, she returned to Europe. She became ill within two years and died in Paris at age 33.

As Menken told so many versions of her origins, including name, place of birth, ancestry, and religion, historians have differed in their accounts. Most have said she was born a Louisiana Creole Catholic of mixed race, with European and African ancestry. A celebrity who created sensational performances in the United States and Europe, she married several times and was also known for her affairs. She had two sons, both of whom died in infancy.