Blanche Yurka was born on June 18, 1887, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Bohemian immigrants. She was brought to the United States as an infant and raised in St. Paul. Her parents recognized her singing talent and supported her opera lessons. At 15, she earned a scholarship to study voice and ballet in New York.
Blanche made her debut as a flower girl in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Parsifal" and later appeared in a Czech-language version of "The Bohemian Girl" at the Met. She soon discovered a passion for legitimate acting and began her Broadway career in 1907. She was a protégée of playwright and director David Belasco and appeared in various productions throughout the 1910s and 1920s.
Blanche's breakthrough role came in 1922, when she played Queen Gertrude opposite John Barrymore's Hamlet. She married actor Ian Keith in 1922, but the couple divorced in 1926 due to the intimidation of her celebrity status. She never remarried.
Blanche continued to appear in classic plays, including Ibsen's "The Wild Duck" and "Hedda Gabler," which she also directed. In 1932, she added to her Shakespearean repertoire with "Troilus and Cressida" and directed the Broadway show "Carry Nation." She appeared in the title role of Sophocles' "Electra" and wrote and appeared in the Broadway play "Spring in Autumn" in 1933.
As an established theatre tragedienne, Blanche gave lectures on the theatre and toured the country with plays. She turned to films at age 47 and made a stunning debut as Madame DeFarge in "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935). However, she did not return to films for five years and was often typecast in secondary roles.
Blanche abandoned Hollywood in the post-war years and refocused on the theatre, where she appeared in plays such as "The Carefree Tree" (1951),"Diary of a Scoundrel" (1956),"Prometheus Bound" (1957),"Jane Eyre" (1958),and "Dinner at Eight" (1966). She scored a personal triumph as the title role in the London production of "The Madwoman of Chaillot" in 1969.
Blanche wrote an instructional book on acting technique, "Dear Audience," in 1959 and her autobiography, "Bohemian Girl," in 1970. She retired from acting in the early 1970s due to failing health and died on June 6, 1974, at the age of 86.
