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Elsie Leslie (August 14, 1881 – October 31, 1966) was an American actress, the country's first child star and the highest-paid and most popular child actress of her era. She came to prominence in 1887 with her performance in Editha's Burglar opposite E. H. Sothern at the Lyceum Theatre in New York. She achieved further fame with her roles in Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1888 and The Prince and the Pauper in 1890. Leslie was a great letter writer, maintaining a correspondence with leading actors, actresses and statesmen. Although most of her correspondents were adult, two were girls nearer her own age: Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Keller. She took a break from acting, returning to the stage in 1898, but did not manage to recapture the old magic as an adult. This photograph from 1899, taken by Zaida Ben-Yusuf, shows Leslie playing the role of Lydia Languish in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals.Photograph credit: Zaida Ben-Yusuf; restored by Adam Cuerden