Born: 20 December 1865, United States
Died: 12 July 1950
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Lady Mendl, Ella Anderson
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Elsie De Wolfe, an American actress and decorator, born in New York City. After studying in Paris, she made her theatrical début in New York in 1891, in Sardou’s Thermidor, playing the role of Fabienne with Forbes-Robertson.
In 1894 she joined the Empire Theatre Company, and during the next ten years played a number of parts, in which she displayed a delicacy of sentiment and refinement of method. She retired from the stage in 1905 and devoted herself to interior decorating, with much success. In 1913 she published The House in Good Taste.
When the European War broke out Miss De Wolfe went to France where she rendered valuable service in the hospitals near the front, and was decorated by the French government with the Legion of Honor for bravery under fire while aiding in the removal of wounded soldiers to a place of safety.
IW note: Her 1926 marriage is believed to have been one of convenience; her lifelong companion was Elisabeth Marbury, with whom she lived in New York and Paris.