Italia Emily Stella Conti (1873 – 8 February 1946) was an English actress and the founder of the

Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play '' Where the Rainbow Ends''. F ...

in London.

Life

Italia Emily Stella Conti was born in London in 1873, the daughter of Luigi Conti, an opera singer and member of

Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

's Mille expedition. His wife and Italia's mother was Emily Mary Castle (1843–1914). The family moved to Brighton. Luigi Conti died in 1917 in

Brookwood Asylum Brookwood Hospital at Knaphill (near Woking) in Surrey, was established in 1867 by Surrey Quarter Sessions as the second County Asylum, the first being Springfield Asylum in Tooting (1840). A third asylum, Cane Hill Hospital at Coulsdon in the ...

. Italia was educated in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

and at Kensington Academy. Conti wrote to

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

, who arranged acting lessons for her. Her debut as an actress was a small part in ''The Last Word'' at the

Lyceum Theatre, London The Lyceum Theatre ( ) is a West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand in central London. It has a seating capacity of 2,100. The origins of the theatre date to 1765. Managed by Samuel Arnol ...

. Conti helped to train a young

Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End Theatre, West End of London and on Broadway theatre, Broadway in New York. ...

without charge (Gertrude's family was unable to pay) and get her a start in theatre. In 1908, Lawrence's mother, Alice, was working for extra money in the chorus of the Christmas pantomime at Brixton Theatre when she heard about Conti, now 35, who was teaching dance, elocution and the rudiments of acting. Gertrude auditioned for Conti, who decided the 10-year-old Gertrude was talented enough to warrant free lessons. Lawrence later joined '' Where the Rainbow Ends'',"Foreword" by Italia Conti in the ''Where the Rainbow Ends', 18th ed. on which Conti was working. Conti's training also would lead to Lawrence's appearance in

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most promi ...

's ''The Miracle'', staged in London and ''Fifinella'', directed by

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, af ...

, for the Liverpool Repertory Theatre (now the Liverpool Playhouse). Charles Hawtrey had asked Italia Conti to train the children to act in ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. Doing this led to Conti's founding of her drama school, the

. In 1925, the academy moved to Lamb's Conduit Street. Bombing in May 1940 destroyed the building, and Conti faced a serious financial loss. The school would be revived, however, at the Tavistock Little Theatre in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

. Conti's pupil, Gertrude Lawrence, went on to be a great star of the theatre. Italia Conti died at Evelyn Cottage, Southbourne, Bournemouth, on 8 February 1946. Her school survived into the 21st century, and was in operation as of September 2022.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conti, Italia 1873 births 1946 deaths English actresses English educators English people of Italian descent Actresses from London