Claribel Buford (Baird) Halstead, class of 1925, played the male lead, “The Rt. Hon.
Benjamin Disraeli,” in USAO’s comic stage production Disraeli so well, that a businessman
who saw it while passing through Chickasha said her portrayal eclipsed that of George
Arliss in the New York stage version. Schooled on the stage under Francis Dinsmore
Davis, she was selected by Miss Davis in 1927 as a charter member of the honorary
Green Masque dramatic society. As well as performing in summer theater, Claribel studied
and worked for six summers to earn her M.A. in Speech from the University of Michigan,
1936. Originally from Chickasha, she was nationally recognized as an outstanding stage
performer in a great range of roles from tragedy to modern comedy, and went on to
be one of the nation’s leading teachers of interpretive speech. In 1948 Claribel became
the first graduate of the Oklahoma College for Women to return as commencement speaker
and was listed in Who’s Who of American Women. Having graduated from OCW with a Bachelor
of Arts Degree in English degree, she taught speech at OCW from 1927-47. She joined
the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1948 and taught there until she retired
as full professor in theater department. Well known in the professional world as Claribel
Baird (her first husband’s name), she later taught and performed under that name,
even after she married William Halstead, who also taught drama at the University of
Michigan. The University of Michigan is endowed with a professorship (drama) in her
name, as well as the William and Claribel Halstead Scholarship Endowment.