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
Lord Delfont of Stepney
Impresario and Companion Water Rat. Brother of Lord Lew Grade. The photo shows Delfont (on right) with Neil Diamond.
Jack Buchanan
Actor-manager, song-and-dance entertainer. Born Helensburgh near Glasgow. Died in the Middlesex Hospital. His ashes were scattered from the deck of a Cunard Liner in recognition of his 50+ trans...
Ian Albery
Chief Executive of Sadler's Wells when the new theatre opened in October 1998.
Hetty King
Music hall entertainer. Born Winifred Emms in New Brighton, Cheshire. She adopted her stage name when she appeared on stage at the Shoreditch Theatre, with her father, William Emms, who used the st...
Shirley Anne Field
Actor. Born Shirley Broomfield in Bolton, Lancashire. She started her career as a glamour model. Laurence Olivier chose her to play the prime female role in the film 'The Entertainer' and she also ...
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52 Tavistock Square
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Ivy Molly Bolton
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Donald W. Insall Associates
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Southwark Council
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