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
Sir Ralph Richardson
Actor. Born Ralph David Richardson in Cheltenham. Along with Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, he dominated British theatre throughout the latter half of the 20th century. He started his career wi...
Person, Cinema, Theatre, TV & Radio, USA
W. B. Yeats
Poet and dramatist. Born in Dublin to John Butler Yeats. A member of The Rhymers' Club. Died in Roquebrune, France.
George Grossmith, Jnr
Actor-manager and playwright. His father of the same name was also in show business. Often partnered Edmund Payne on stage (on Grossmith's right knee in this photo).
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet.
C. J. Phipps
Architect of theatres. Those still standing in London include: the Vaudeville, the Lyric, the Garrick, Her Majesty's. Born Bath. Died at home at 26 Mecklenburgh Square.