Born in Coventry. From an acting family her stage career started at age 8. When 17 she retired from the stage to marry artist G.F. Watts, 30 years her senior. Her desire for the stage was greater than that for her husband and they separated after less than a year. She disappeared and her father misidentified a body recovered from the Thames as hers. She resurfaced to reveal that she was, aged 20, having a happy affair with the architect-designer Edward W. Godwin, which produced two children. She went on to have two more marriages, each to actors (Irving and an American 30 years her junior), but her greatest partnership was professional, with the actor/manager Henry Irving. Died at her home in Kent, Smallhythe, which is now a museum. John Gielgud was her great-nephew.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Ellen Terry
Commemorated ati
Queen's Theatre - Long Acre
Queen's Theatre The old Queen's Theatre occupied this site for just eleven y...
Other Subjects
William Congreve
Playwright and poet. Born Yorkshire, died at the home of his friend, Edward Porter, in Surrey Street.
Edmund Payne
Actor, comedian and singer. Born in Hackney. He used his short stature and malleable features to create a popular comic persona. On stage he was often partnered by George Grossmith junior. See ther...
Michael Simkins
A prominent show business lawyer who apparently had an obituary in The Times (to which we don't have access). Son of G. Simkins. Michael owned the property in which his brother, Roger, ran the High...
Sir Terence Rattigan
Playwright. Born Terence Mervyn Rattigan at 100 Cornwall Gardens, London. He achieved early theatrical success with his comedy 'French Without Tears' in 1936. This was followed by 'The Winslow Boy'...
Margaret Walker
Acting school director. She worked with Joan Littlewood in the Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, which inspired her to found the East 15 Acting School in Loughton, Essex.
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