Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was encouraged by her mother to take up singing and after attempting opera unsuccessfully, she tried acting, making her stage debut in 1836 in New Orleans. She went on to become one of the greatest actresses of her day, successful at home as well as on the London stage. She made England her home for several years, becoming friends with the author Geraldine Jewsbury, who is said to have based a character on Cushman in her 1848 novel The Half Sisters.
In 1849. Cushman returned to America but in 1852 she decided to retire from the stage and took up residence in Rome, Italy where she remained until the last few years of her life.
Cushman used her notoriety to promote the works of African American/Native American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, who had became a close friend, and whom Cushman greatly admired.
Although Cushman maintained that she was devoted to Stebbins, she became involved with another woman not long after her relationship with Stebbins began.
CharlotteCushman died of pneumonia in Boston in 1876 and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
CharlotteCushman was one of the most famous actresses of her day, enjoying success on the stage in both the United States and Britain.
Cushman was the eldest of the four children of Elkanah and Mary Eliza Babbitt Cushman of Boston, Massachusetts.
Early on, Cushman seems to have realized the value of publicity, particularly the sort that would identify her as a member of genteel society and offset the general suspicion that actresses were not virtuous women.
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