Norma Whalley (1882 or 1883 – 9 October 1954) was an Australian theatre and film actress active in the United States and Britain.

Biography

Whalley was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1882 or 1883, the daughter of doctor Henry Octavius Whalley. During the late 1890s she toured South Africa, meeting

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

, president of the

Transvaal Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result of the Second ...

soon after the

Jameson Raid The Jameson Raid (Afrikaans: ''Jameson-inval'', , 29 December 1895 – 2 January 1896) was a botched raid against the South African Republic (commonly known as the Transvaal) carried out by British colonial administrator Leander Starr Jameson ...

. In 1901 she was married to J. Sherrie Matthews, an American vaudeville performer, who since mid-1900 had been prevented from working due to ill health, and by 1902 was permanently disabled after a stroke of paralysis. In 1904 she divorced Matthews to marry barrister Percival Clarke (1872–1936), later Sir Percival, son of Sir Edward Clarke. She died at

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

on 9 October 1954.

Acting career

Theatre

Whalley was brought to the United States for a production by

George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...

. She worked in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and New York for several years from the late 1890s. Whalley appeared in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

production of ''The Man in the Moon'' between April and November 1899.

Selected filmography

* '' Mr. Gilfil's Love Story'' (1920) * '' Colonel Newcome'' (1920) * '' Greatheart'' (1921) * '' The Mystery of Mr. Bernard Brown'' (1921) * ''

Open Country "Open Country" is a designation used for some access land in England and Wales. It was first defined under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 (and extended by the Countryside Act 1968), and was land over which an appropr ...

'' (1922) * '' The Pointing Finger'' (1922) * '' The Pauper Millionaire'' (1922) * '' Half a Truth'' (1922) * '' The Crimson Circle'' (1922) * '' A Gipsy Cavalier'' (1922) * '' The Knight Errant'' (1922) * ''

The Experiment ''The Experiment'' is a 2002 BBC documentary series in which 15 men are randomly selected to be either "prisoner" or guard, contained in a simulated prison over an eight-day period. Produced by Steve Reicher and Alex Haslam, it presents the fi ...

'' (1922) * '' Sliver Blaze'' (1923) * '' The Virgin Queen'' (1923) * '' The Luck of the Navy'' (1927) * '' Bitter Sweet'' (1933) * '' This Is the Life'' (1933) * '' The Camels Are Coming'' (1934)

References

External links

* * 1880s births 1954 deaths Australian stage actresses Australian film actresses Australian silent film actresses 20th-century Australian actresses 19th-century Australian women Australian expatriate actresses in the United Kingdom Australian expatriate actresses in the United States Australian expatriates in South Africa Australian expatriates in England {{Australia-film-actor-stub