Doris Lytton (January 23, 1893 – December 2, 1953) was an English actress on stage and in silent films, and a businesswoman in the 1920s. Later, as Doris Lytton Toye, she wrote a cookbook tailored for post-war shortages, ''Contemporary Cookery'' (1947).

Early life

Doris Lytton Partington was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Career

Doris Lytton performed in plays on the London stage from her girlhood, including ''The Conqueror'' (1905), ''For the Crown'' (1905),

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

's ''

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'' (1907),

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's feminist comedy ''

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'' (1908, 1909), ''Might is Right'' (1909), ''Inconstant George'' (1910),

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's ''The Blindness of Virtue'' (1913), ''Never Say Die'' (1913), J. M. Barrie's ''Dear Brutus'' (1917), ''Husbands for All'' (1920),

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's ''French Leave'' (1920), ''The Fulfilling of the Law'' (1921), ''A Matter of Fact'' (1921), ''Trespasses'' (1923), ''The Confession'' (1925),

Harley Granville-Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

's ''The Madras House'' (1925-1926), ''Behold the Bridegroom'' (1931), ''King Queen Knave'' (1932), ''Suspect'' (1937). Silent films featuring Doris Lytton included '' The Blue Bird'' (1910), '' The Brass Bottle'' (1914), ''The Single Man'' (1919), '' Mutiny'' (1925). She was also in the cast of a 1942

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

production of ''The King Comes to His Own'', a Biblical drama by

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

. In 1920, Lytton opened a shop called "Cinderella" in the West End of London, offering repairs for "expensive evening dress shoes". A newspaper writer praised her effort as "an example of the new woman who has gone into business for herself and made good." Lytton was known to sew and embroider backstage, and enjoyed cooking. "I have loved to cook ever since I was a wee thing and had a toy cook stove," she explained to an American reporter while on tour in the United States in 1913. From 1945 to 1947 Doris Lytton Toye wrote a monthly cookery column for ''Vogue'' magazine, with illustrations by

Denton Welch Maurice Denton Welch (29 March 1915 – 30 December 1948) was a British writer and painter, admired for his vivid prose and precise descriptions. Life Welch was born in Shanghai, China, to Arthur Joseph Welch, a wealthy British rubber merchant, ...

. It featured advice particular to the rationing conditions in England during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. For example, it suggested barley or pasta as workable alternatives to rice, which was not available. A cookbook based on her columns, ''Contemporary Cookery'', was published in 1947. The cookbook's additional illustrations were provided by John Minton.

Personal life

Doris Lytton married opera composer and conductor

Geoffrey Toye Edward Geoffrey Toye (17 February 1889 – 11 June 1942), known as Geoffrey Toye, was an English conductor, composer and opera producer. He is best remembered as a musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and for his association with ...

in 1915. They divorced before 1936. She died in London in 1953, aged 60 years, after falling from the window of her fifth floor apartment."Doris Lytton, 60, Dies in Plunge"
''Long Beach Independent'' (December 4, 1953): 13. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

References

External links

*The National Portrait Gallery ha
24 portraits of Doris Lytton
all of them taken between 1914 and 1918 by Bassano Ltd * 1893 births 1953 deaths English actresses {{authority control