Colorizing Remarkable Women - Pauline Chase, American Actress
top of page

Colorizing Remarkable Women - Pauline Chase, American Actress


Pauline Chase - Colorization by Claudia D'Souza, the Photo Alchemist
Pauline Chase - Colorization by Claudia D'Souza, the Photo Alchemist

Pauline Chase (May 20, 1885 – March 15, 1962) was an American actress who performed on the stage in both the United States and the United Kingdom. She is known for her extended run in the title role of British productions of Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up.


She was born Ellen Pauline Matthew Bliss in Washington, D.C. on May 20, 1885. She was schooled at the Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in New York.


She began acting at the age of 15. She played one of the Lost Boys in the debut of Peter Pan in London in 1904. She was later selected by producer Charles Frohman and playwright J. M. Barrie for the title role, which she played from 1906–1913.


original portrait

She retired from the stage after the Christmas run of Peter Pan ended in 1913 to marry banker Captain Alexander Victor Drummond. They had three children.


She came out of retirement in 1916 for her only screen appearance in The Real Thing at Last, a satirical film scripted by Barrie and shown at a benefit for the YMCA, attended by members of the British royal family.


She was said to have had an affair with explorer Robert Falcon Scott before he was married.


She died in Royal Tunbridge Wells, England in 1962.

bottom of page