La Belle Irene

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Irene Woodward
Irenewoodwardbizarre magazine 29401 12.jpg
Irenewoodwardbizarre magazine 29401 12.jpg
Birth Date 1862
Birth Place
Death Date 1915
Occupation Tattooed lady
Website none

Irene Woodward, also known as La Belle Irene, was a Tattooed lady who performed during the 1880s. She made her New York debut just weeks after Nora Hildebrandt to great fanfare, including a report in the New York Times. She worked at Bunnell's museum and successfully toured Europe. Onstage, she claimed to have been tattooed by her father, and, in a break from the usual tales of forcible tattooing, claimed she actually wanted the work done. Woodward was actually tattooed by Samuel O'Reilly and his then-apprentice Charles Wagner. At times, she claimed to have been inspired by having seen Constantine. In 1883, she married a showbiz man named George E Sterling with whom she had a son, also named George, and spent 15 years in the circus.

She died in December of 1915 at the age of 53 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [1]

La Belle Irene