Ellen Terry

Legendary British stage actress who made a few silent film appearances. The daughter of strolling players, she was born in Coventry into an almost exclusively theatrical family. Her grandparents were actors, as were all six of her siblings. But only her son, Edward Gordon Craig, would in any way approach her fame in the theatre, albeit as a designer rather than as an actor. She made her debut in 1856 at the age of 8 before an audience which included Queen Victoria. By age 11, she had played a dozen roles including Puck. At 16, after showing early brilliance, she played "An American Cousin" (a year before the famed American production clouded by Lincoln's assassination) and then retired.

Although married to George Frederick Watts, her children Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig (9 December 1869 - 1947) and Edward Gordon Craig (16 January 1872 - 1966) were fathered by architect Edward Godwin, who deserted them. Terry and Watts separated a year after they married, but didn't divorced until 1877.

After six years, still only 22, she returned to the stage and in 1875 played a landmark Portia in "The Merchant of Venice. " For the next three decades, she played every major Shakespearean role opposite the greatest British tragedians, in England and in America.

Son Edward Gordon Craig acted with Henry Irving's Lyceum company from 1885-1897. Feeling restricted in creativity, he turned to scene design and was notable for pioneering new theories in the art. He was employed for the 1903 productions of "The Vikings" and "Much Ado About Nothing" starring his mother. He founded the Gordon Craig School for the Art of the Theatre in Florence, Italy, in 1913.

Her long association with theatrical giant Henry Irving ended with his death, but a year later, in 1906, she began a long professional and personal relationship with George Bernard Shaw. After more than half a century onstage, she undertook a tour of England, America, and Australia, lecturing on the theatre and on Shakespeare.

She was coaxed into a film appearance in 1916 and played in a handful of additional pictures through 1922.

She was awarded the Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1925 King's New Year Honours List for her services to drama.

Several obituaries at the time of Terry's death mention a final film appearance, Land of Hope and Glory (1927), but most trustworthy evidence suggests this is in error. The leading role being played by actress Ellaline Terriss, it seems likely the similarity in names is at the root of the misinformation.

A blue plaque on the house where she lived in Earls Court commemorates her while one on the 18th century terraced house in Cowley Street, Westminster commemorates her great nephew Sir John Gielgud.