Born in Coventry. From an acting family her stage career started at age 8. When 17 she retired from the stage to marry artist G.F. Watts, 30 years her senior. Her desire for the stage was greater than that for her husband and they separated after less than a year. She disappeared and her father misidentified a body recovered from the Thames as hers. She resurfaced to reveal that she was, aged 20, having a happy affair with the architect-designer Edward W. Godwin, which produced two children. She went on to have two more marriages, each to actors (Irving and an American 30 years her junior), but her greatest partnership was professional, with the actor/manager Henry Irving. Died at her home in Kent, Smallhythe, which is now a museum. John Gielgud was her great-nephew.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Ellen Terry
Commemorated ati
Queen's Theatre - Long Acre
Queen's Theatre The old Queen's Theatre occupied this site for just eleven y...
Other Subjects
Jack Buchanan
Actor-manager, song-and-dance entertainer. Born Helensburgh near Glasgow. Died in the Middlesex Hospital. His ashes were scattered from the deck of a Cunard Liner in recognition of his 50+ trans...
Dodie Smith
Author and playwright, Born Lancashire. Wrote 'The Hundred and One Dalmations' and 'I Capture the Castle'. Born Lancashire but in 1910 her mother remarried and they moved to London. Did some acti...
Shirley Anne Field
Actor. Born Shirley Broomfield in Bolton, Lancashire. She started her career as a glamour model. Laurence Olivier chose her to play the prime female role in the film 'The Entertainer' and she also ...
Pollock's toy theatre shop
This was started by John Redington, selling printed sheets of characters and scenery for toy theatres. He ran it until his death when his family took over. 1877 his daughter Eliza married Benjamin ...
Shepherd's Bush Empire
Theatre. Built for impresario Oswald Stoll and designed by Frank Matcham. Amongst its first performers were the Fred Karno troupe featuring Charlie Chaplin. When the appeal of variety shows began t...
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