Lillian Russell, professional name of Helen Louise Leonard (1861-1922), American light-opera soprano, known for her beauty and flamboyant life-style as well as for her singing ability. Born in Clinton, Iowa, she studied in Chicago and first appeared on stage in 1879 in New York City in the chorus of H.M.S. Pinafore by the British playwright-composer team of Sir William S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. She sang in various opera companies in England and the U.S., including one that she headed, and from 1899 to 1904 with the noted Weber and Fields burlesque company of New York. Her most famous roles included leading parts in the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and those of Jacques Offenbach.