Marion Terry

Marion Bessie Terry (born Mary Ann Bessy Terry; 13 October 1853 – 21 August 1930) was an English actress. In a career spanning half a century, she played leading roles in more than 125 plays. Always in the shadow of her older and more famous sister Ellen, Terry nevertheless achieved considerable success in the plays of W. S. Gilbert, Oscar Wilde, Henry James and others.

Biography

Terry was born in England, into a theatrical family. Her birth name was Mary Ann Bessy Terry, and she was nicknamed "Polly".Booth, Michael R
"Terry, Marion Bessie (1853–1930)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press (2004), accessed 7 January 2010 Her parents, Benjamin (1818–1896), of Irish descent, and Sarah (née Ballard) (1819–1892), of Scottish ancestry, were comic actors in a touring company based in PortsmouthBiography of Ellen Terry at the Stage Beauty website
/ref> (where Sarah's father was a Wesleyan minister) and had eleven children. At least five of these became actors: Kate, Ellen, Marion, Florence and Fred. Two other children, George and Charles, were connected with theatre management.

Terry's sister Kate was a very successful actress until her marriage and retirement from the stage in 1867, and her sister Ellen became the greatest Shakespearean actress of her time. Her great nephew (Kate's grandson), Sir John Gielgud, became one of the twentieth century's most respected actors. Terry attended a boarding-school for girls at Sunnyside, Kingston upon Thames, together with her favourite sister, Florence.

Career

Terry's first professional stage appearance was in July 1873 as Ophelia in a production of ''Hamlet'' directed by Tom Taylor in Manchester. Her first West End appearance came in October 1873 as Isabelle in a farce by John Maddison Morton, ''A Game of Romps'' at the Olympic Theatre, in the company of Henry Neville. This was followed by the role of Lady Valeria in Morton's ''All that Glitters Is Not Gold'' at the same theatre. In 1874, she was Hero in Shakespeare's ''Much Ado about Nothing'' at the Olympic. She then played a season at the Strand Theatre, and in 1875 appeared in ''Weak Woman'' by H. J. Byron.

Terry next joined the company at the Haymarket Theatre and became a protege of W. S. Gilbert,Stedman, p. 158 soon appearing in several of his plays, including ''Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith'' (1876) as Dorothy, ''The Palace of Truth'' (1876 revival), '' Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1877 revival) and ''Engaged'' (1877), creating the role of Belinda Treherne with great success. Also during that period, she first appeared in ''The Danischeffs'', adapted by Lord Newry (1876), ''Fame'' by C. M. Rae (1877), ''Charles XII'' by James Planché (1877 revival), '' The Vagabond'', by Gilbert (1878), ''Two Orphans'' (1878), ''The Crushed Tragedian'', and ''My Little Girl'' by Dion Boucicault. In 1879 she moved to the Prince of Wales's Theatre under the management of the Bancrofts and then moved with the company to the Haymarket, performing in revivals of T. W. Robertson's comedies, including as Blanche Haye in ''Ours'' and Bella in ''School''. In 1879 she also appeared as Mabel in ''Duty'' by James Albert and the title role in '' Gretchen'' by Gilbert.

Now an established actress, Terry continued to play leading roles in contemporary plays. She was Bathsheba in the stage adaptation of ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' by Thomas Hardy and J. Comyns Carr (1882). The same year, she starred with Lottie Venne and Johnston Forbes-Robertson in G. W. Godfrey's comedy ''The Parvenu'' at the Court Theatre. She substituted for her sister Ellen, who was ill, as Viola in ''Twelfth Night'' at the Lyceum Theatre in 1884. In 1885 she played in ''The Magistrate'' by Arthur Wing Pinero. In 1887, she joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree first at the Comedy Theatre and then at the Haymarket. That year, she also appeared in ''The Ballad-Monger'', by Walter Bessant. In February 1888, she starred in a revival of Gilbert's ''Broken Hearts''. Later that year, she toured the British provinces with Henry Irving in another of her sister Ellen's roles, Margaret in ''Faust''. She played Mrs. Erroll in ''The Real Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1889),Foulkes, p. 98 appeared in ''Cyrene'' by Alfred C. Calmour (1890), and appeared in 1891 in ''Sunlight and Shadow'' by R. C. Carton. She continued to tour with Irving's Lyceum company in the 1890s, as Rosamund in Alfred Lord Tennyson's ''Becket'', as Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice'' (one of her sister's signature roles), and again as Margaret.

Later years

In 1892 Terry played perhaps her most famous role, Mrs. Erlynne in '' Lady Windermere's Fan'', by Oscar Wilde, at the St James's Theatre. This was followed by Hetty in ''The Cotton King'' by Sutton Vane Sr. (1893). In 1895, she appeared in ''Alabama'' by Augustus Thomas, in the title role in ''Delia Harding'' by J. Comyns Carr, and as Mrs. Peverel in '' Guy Domville'' by Henry James. In 1900 she played the roles of Rosalind and Portia at the Stratford festival. She was Nina in ''Forgiveness'' by J. Comyns Carr (1901), the title role in ''Eleanor'' by Mrs. Humphry Ward (1902), Susan Throssell in '' Quality Street'' by J. M. Barrie (1902), and Audrie in ''Michael and His Lost Angel'' by Henry Arthur Jones, among many other engagements.

In 1907, Terry performed in a Royal Command Performance of the 1855 Tom Taylor play, ''Still Waters Run Deep'', together with Charles Wyndham, before King Edward VII.Gillan, Don
A History of the Royal Command Performance
StageBeauty.net, accessed 16 June 2009 She played Hamlet's mother in a 1908 revival of Gilbert's parody of ''Hamlet'', ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern''. She toured in America and Canada in 1908 and 1909. Her last role was the Principessa della Cercola in ''Our Betters at the Globe'' by Somerset Maugham in 1923, fifty years after her first professional appearance. Suffering from arthritis and other ailments, she retired from the stage. In her last years, Terry lived in Paddington, after having lived for many years at Buckingham Palace Mansions.Obituary, ''The Times'', 22 August 1930

Terry died at her home in 1930, aged 76, of a cerebral haemorrhage and was buried at St Albans cemetery. She never married and, intensely private offstage, nothing is known of her romantic life. She left an estate of more than £12,000.

See also

*Terry family

Notes

References

*Adams, William Davenport
''A Dictionary of the Drama''
Chatto & Windus, 1904
*
*Gielgud, John. ''An Actor and His Time'', Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1979.
*Ellen Terry's memoirs, ed. E. Craig and C. St John (New York, 1932)
*Foulkes, Richard
''Lewis Carroll and the Victorian Stage''
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005
*Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found, ''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre''. (1992) Oxford University Press
*Mullin, D. (ed.) ''Victorian actors and actresses in review: a dictionary of contemporary views of representative British and American actors and actresses'', 1837–1901 (1983)
*Parker, J. (ed.) ''Who's Who in the Theatre'', 6th edn (1930)
*Pemberton, Thomas Edgar. ''Ellen Terry and her sisters'', London: C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd (1902)
*
*Steen, M. ''A pride of Terrys'' (1962)

External links

Marion Terry
at the National Portrait Gallery, London
Several portraits of Marion Terry1880 photo of Marion Terry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Marion
English stage actresses
19th-century English actresses
Women of the Victorian era
1852 births
1930 deaths
People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan
Terry family