(February 27, 1848 - July 21, 1928)
Dame Ellen Terry was a popular British Shakespearean actor who ventured into vaudeville and burlesque upon meeting Henry Irving. She was born into a family of actors and took her first professional acting role when she was eight years old at London's Princess' Theatre in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. She spent much of her youth traveling with her family and entertaining in small villages and towns. Between the ages of twelve and thirteen she performed at the Royalty Theatre and by the age of thirteen she joined J.H. Chute's company as a player. Although Terry was uncomfortable singing and dancing, she was cast in burlesque roles and learned to do so. Terry played Titania in the opening production of Midsummer Night's Dream of Chute's theatre in Bath, The Theatre Royal.
Despite her prosperous theatrical career, Ellen Terry married three times and had a number of relationships. She first married George Frederick Watts from whom she separated only ten months following their marriage. She married again in 1877 to Charles Clavering Wardell. Then in 1907 she married James Carew. Outside of her marriages Terry was intimate with Edward William Godwin, the father of her famous son, Edward Gordon Craig (1872). Craig would go on to become a highly influential designer, actor, and director. She also had a lasting friendship and correspondence with the playwright George Bernard Shaw. Their numerous letters can be found in the book, Ellen Terry and Bernard Shaw: A Correspondence.
Ellen Terry toured America eight times between 1883 and 1907, after Henry Irving's death. These tours lasted between three and seven months each. In her autobiography, she writes, "I find that I have spent not quite five years of my life in America. Five out of sixty is not a large proportion, yet I often feel that I am half American." 1 Despite her interest in America, in 1925 she was dubbed a "Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire." 2 She died in 1928 at the age of 80.
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2. Wikipedia par. 10
Resources
Craig, Edward Gordon. Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self. New York: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., LTD, 1931.
A unique biography written by Ellen Terry's son, the book includes numerous photographs and readable prose.
"Ellen Terry." http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/extra.terry1.htm 30 August 2007.
This is an excellent source for birth records, marriage and divorce paperwork, and British census records.
"Ellen Terry." IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855977/publicity 30 August 2007.
"Ellen Terry." Wikipedia. http://www.en.wikipeia.org/wiki/Ellen_Terry 30 August 2007.
Howland, David. "Ellen Terry." http://www.lib.rochester.edu/Camelot/terry.html 30 August 2007.