Henry VIII: Charlotte Cushman as Queen Katherine.

Cushman performed Queen Katherine for decades, but she also performed Cardinal Wolsey too, in 1859! Henry Clapp said her Katherine "was her crowning achievement, and, therefore, the highest histrionic work of any American actress." He illustrated this by reference to the scene where, as "the shadows deepened about the sick woman, Miss Cushman's power took on an uneaethly beauty and sweetness which keenly touched the listener's heart."(Henry A. Clapp, Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic, Boston, New York: 1902, 66, 89).