Ellen Terry: The Victorian Actress Who Became Britain’s Leading Shakespearean Star

Ellen Terry: The Victorian Actress Who Became Britain’s Leading Shakespearean Star

Today I want to find out a little about Ellen Terry, one of the most celebrated actresses of the Victorian era. Her remarkable career lasted for almost seventy years, taking her from the London stage as a child performer to becoming one of Britain’s best-known Shakespearean actresses.

Alice Ellen Terry was born on the 27th of February 1847 in Coventry, Warwickshire. Acting was very much a family profession. Her parents, Benjamin and Sarah Terry, were both performers, and several of Ellen’s brothers and sisters would also go on to work in the theatre.

Ellen was introduced to the stage incredibly young. At just nine years old, she appeared as Mamillius in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale at the Princess’s Theatre in London. She went on to play other Shakespearean roles during her childhood, including Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prince Arthur in King John.

By her teenage years, Ellen was already an experienced performer, appearing in theatres around Britain as well as in London.

Her personal life, however, became complicated at an early age.

As a teenager, Ellen became acquainted with the respected artist George Frederic Watts, who was around thirty years older than her. Watts painted several portraits of the young actress, and the pair married in February 1864, just days before Ellen’s seventeenth birthday.

The marriage was really unhappy and they separated within a year.

Ellen eventually returned to acting, but in 1868 she left the stage again after beginning a relationship with architect and designer Edward William Godwin. As Ellen was still legally married to Watts, their decision to live together caused a huge scandal in Victorian society.

Ellen and Godwin had two children, Edith and Edward, but their relationship eventually came to an end. By 1874, Ellen had returned to the theatre once again.

Her comeback was extremely successful.

She received particular praise for her performance as Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Her reputation continued to grow, and in 1878 she began the professional partnership that would define much of her career.

Actor and theatre manager Henry Irving invited Ellen to become his leading lady at London’s Lyceum Theatre.

Irving and Terry became one of the most famous theatrical partnerships of the Victorian period.

Ellen appeared opposite Irving in numerous productions and became particularly associated with Shakespeare. Her roles included Ophelia in Hamlet, Desdemona in Othello, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Katherine of Aragon in Henry VIII.

Her portrayal of Portia remained one of her best-known performances.

Ellen and Irving also toured extensively, including several highly successful visits to North America. For more than twenty years, she was widely regarded as one of Britain's leading Shakespearean actresses.

One of the most memorable images of Ellen came from her appearance as Lady Macbeth in 1888. Her green costume was decorated with thousands of shimmering beetle-wing cases and was later immortalised in a famous portrait by artist John Singer Sargent.

After leaving the Lyceum, Ellen continued performing, although an attempt to manage London’s Imperial Theatre in 1903 was unsuccessful.

She later went on lecture tours in Britain, America and other places, speaking about Shakespeare’s female characters and sharing her theatrical experience.

Ellen also embraced the relatively new format of cinema. Beginning in 1916, she appeared in several silent films while continuing to perform and lecture.

Her contribution to British theatre eventually received official recognition. In 1925, King George V appointed her Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, making her one of the earliest actresses to receive such an honour for her professional career.

Ellen Terry died on the 21st of July 1928 at her home, Smallhythe Place in Kent, at the age of eighty-one.

 

Her career helped to raise the status of professional actresses, and her performances, photographs, portraits and surviving recordings continue to preserve her story.