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
Billy Smart's Circus
The first appearance of the Billy Smart Circus was at Southall Park.
Bertram W. Mills
Son of a proprietor of a coaching firm in Paddington who built coaches, provided services to funerals and owned two small farms, one at Chalfont St Giles where he rested his horses. Bertram was bro...
Michael Caine
Actor. Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe. His career started in repertory theatre and television, eventually getting his big break in the film 'Zulu'. He went on t...
Bycullah Athenaeum
A popular venue for plays and concerts, performed by local drama and music societies. until it was destroyed by fire. The name derives from the nearby Bycullah estate which was developed from 1879,...
Sir Ian Mckellen
Born Burnley, Lancashire. Versatile stage and film actor with a repertoire ranging from the classics through science fiction films and pantomime to Coronation Street. He ‘came out’ in 1988 and ha...