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Actors, Directors, & Theater Professionals, Theater Biography - Producers, Directors, and Other Theater Professionals, Entertainers & Musicians - Women's Biography
Ellen Terry by Joy Melville β€” book cover

Ellen Terry

by Joy Melville
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Overview

Ellen Terry (1847-1928) rose to fame as an actress in the 19th century, when her stage partnership with Henry Irving at London's Lyceum Theatre drew capacity crowds. She was notorious for flaunting the moral code of her day, marrying three times - first, at 17, to the painter G F Watts (who sent her back to her parents after a few months with a sum of u300 a year 'so long as she shall lead a chaste life') - and then living with her lover, Edward Godwin by whom she had two illegitimate children. A perfectionist on stage, she was cruelly forced to continue to act beyond a point she found appropriate in order to earn enough money to support her children: 'Look at me, 61 and still doing one-night stands', she said to a friend. As her sight and memory worsened, and her partnership with Irving ended, her acting career closed. She reinvented herself as a lecturer, touring Britain and America speaking on Shakespeare's heroines.

Synopsis

A lavishly illustrated biography about Victorian actress - no competing title

About the Author, Joy Melville

Joy Melville is the author of several biographies including Ellen Terry (Haus, 2006), Ellen and Edy - the life of Ellen Terry and her daughter Edith Craig, Mother of Oscar - the life of Jane Francesca Wilde and Julia Margaret Cameron - Pioneer Photographer.

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Book Details

Published
November 1, 2005
Publisher
Haus Publishing
Pages
256
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781904950141

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