Cobina Wright
Cobina Wright, Sr. | |
|---|---|
 Wright's 1949 column photo | |
| Born | Esther Ellen Cobb October 20, 1887 Lakeview, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | April 9, 1970 (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Esther Johnson, Esther Cobina |
| Occupation(s) | Opera singer and actress |
| Known for | Syndicated gossip column |
Cobina Wright, Sr. (born Esther Ellen Cobb, September 20, 1887 – April 9, 1970) was an American opera singer and actress who appeared in The Razor's Edge (1946). She gained later fame as a hostess and a syndicated gossip columnist. Wright was also known as Esther Cobb, Esther Johnson, and Esther Cobina.
Biography
[edit]She was born on September 20, 1887, in Lakeview, Oregon to Benjamin M. Cobb and Della Holmes (1861—1943).[1]
She married and divorced twice. Her first husband, whom she married in 1912, was American novelist Owen Johnson;[2] she was his second wife, and they divorced in 1917. Her second husband was William May Wright, a stockbroker, by whom she had one child, a daughter, Cobina Carolyn Wright (aka Cobina Wright Jr.), (1921—2011), briefly a movie actress.[3][4] the Wrights were divorced in 1935.[5]
In the early part of the 20th century, she was a coloratura soprano, using the stage name Esther Cobina.[6][7] She had studied singing in California, under voice teacher Nettie Snyder, and in Germany, where she initially pursued her career on stage.[8][9] During World War I, she performed for French and American troops in Europe.[10] She later made her American opera debut at Carnegie Hall in 1924.
She died in Los Angeles, California in 1970.[11]
Legacy
[edit]Wright was the author of a memoir titled I Never Grew Up (Prentice-Hall, 1952).[1]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Danger! Women at Work | Regina | |
| 1944 | Sweethearts of the U.S.A. | Mrs. Josephine Carver | |
| 1946 | The Razor's Edge | Princess Novemali |
References
[edit]- ^ U. S. Federal Census of 1910, accessed on ancestry.com on 3 November 2011
- ^ "Owen Johnson Married", The New York Times, 2 February 1912
- ^ Full name and also-known-as name cited in International Motion Picture Almanac (TK, 1948), page 416
- ^ "Life Magazine". Cover Browser. February 17, 1941. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
- ^ "Women: Full Dress". Time. February 11, 1935. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
- ^ "Owen Wilson Recovered", Berkeley Daily Gazette, 27 September 1912
- ^ "Owen Johnson Married", The New York Times, 2 February 1912
- ^ Rockwell Dennis Hunt and Nellie Van Der Grift Sanchez, California and Californians (The Lewis Publishing Company, 1930), page 180
- ^ "Owen Johnson Married", The New York Times, 2 February 1912
- ^ Lake County Examiner, 15 November 1917
- ^ "Cobina Wright, Society Hostess And Hollywood Columnist, Dies; Former Waldorf Aide Made Her U.S. Opera Debut at Carnegie Hall in 1924". The New York Times. April 11, 1970. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
External links
[edit]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1887 births
- 1970 deaths
- Actresses from Oregon
- American socialites
- American film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American operatic sopranos
- People from Lakeview, Oregon
- 20th-century American actresses
- Singers from Oregon
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century American women singers
- Classical musicians from Oregon