Ellis Jeffreys
Minnie Gertrude Ellis Jeffreys (12 May 1868(?)[n 1] – 21 January 1943) was an English actress, best known for her comedy roles.
Jeffreys was born in Ceylon and made her stage debut in London in 1889. She quickly became a leading
Most of her roles were in modern-dress
Life and career
Early years
Jeffreys was born in
In 1894 Jeffreys married the Hon Frederick Graham Curzon, the younger son of the
West End star
On her return to England Jeffreys played in The Misogynist at the St James's Theatre, with George Alexander and Allan Aynesworth.[16] She continued to appear in Alexander's company both in London and on tour in his Ruritanian play The Prisoner of Zenda, handing her role over to Fay Davis in October 1896. Still under Alexander's management she then returned to her more familiar territory of modern-dress comedy as Lady Miranda in His Little Dodge, an adaptation of a Feydeau farce.[17] The Pall Mall Gazette judged that Jeffreys's highly promising gift for comedy had now come to fruition, and thought her the best of the cast, which also included Fred Terry, Weedon Grossmith and Alfred Maltby.[18] The theatrical newspaper The Era said:
Her first marriage ended in 1903, when she obtained a divorce on the grounds of Curzon's cruelty and adultery; she was awarded custody of their two children, Evelyn Ellis Isabella and George (later a successful actor).[20] In 1904 she married the actor-manager Herbert Sleath (1870–1921), to whom she remained married for the rest of his life.[11] They had no children.[3]
In several years between 1895 and 1906, Jeffreys was seen in the US, both on Broadway and in national tours.
On her return to England Jeffreys appeared at His Majesty's Theatre, in May 1907, as Mrs Allonby in A Woman of No Importance in a cast that also contained Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Marion Terry, Kate Cutler and Viola Tree.[21] In October 1907 Jeffreys appeared in the opening production of the Queen's Theatre in Madeleine Lucette Ryley's comedy The Sugar Bowl, under her husband's management. Also with Sleath's company she toured in Edwin Milton Royle's A White Man. At His Majesty's in 1909 Jeffreys played a part some way removed from her usual agreeable and attractive characters, appearing as the vicious Lady Sneerwell in Tree's production of The School for Scandal. Reviews were good,[22] and although The Athenaeum thought Jeffreys adopted "perhaps rather too gentle a manner to suggest the widow's acidity of temper",[23] The Morning Post found her "agreeably disagreeable".[24]
Later years
Later roles included Mrs Quesnel in The Case of Rebellious Susan and Madge Bolt in Is Matrimony a Failure? at the Criterion (1911), Comtesse Zicka in a revival of Diplomacy at Wyndham's (1913) and Mrs Cameron in The Flag Lieutenant at the Haymarket (1914). At the Globe, Jeffreys played the Countess Olga in Fedora in 1920 and Emily Ladew in Her Husband's Wife in 1921. The following year she was seen at Drury Lane as the Lady Violante in Decameron Nights. Other roles included Lady Frinton in The Last of Mrs Cheyney at the St James's in 1925, Lady Trench in Frederick Lonsdale's Never Come Back with Allan Aynesworth, Viola Tree and the young Raymond Massey at the Phoenix Theatre in 1932 and Lady Mary Crabb in Fresh Fields at the Criterion in 1933.[9]
In the 1930s Jeffreys appeared in thirteen films, playing Mrs Langford in Raise the Roof (1930), Elizabeth Green in Birds of Prey (1931), Lady Marian Mainwaring in Tilly of Bloomsbury (1931), Aunt Emily Debrant in Leap Year (1932), Lady Ellerslie in Two White Arms (1932), Lady Marshall in The Barton Mystery (1933), Frau Kleiner in Where Is This Lady? (1933), Mrs Carmichael in Lilies of the Field (1934), Lady Elizabeth in Eliza Comes to Stay (1936), Lady Madeleine Knox in Limelight (1936), Mrs Hammond in While Parents Sleep (1936), Lady Maude Wall in Return of a Stranger (1937) and Lady Tonbridge in Sweet Devil (1938).[25]
Jeffreys retired in 1938, and died at her home in Chobham, Surrey on 21 January 1943.[9] In an obituary notice The Stage said of her, "Ellis Jeffreys had all the qualities of a comedy actress – fine presence, keen humour, feeling, ease and distinction of manner, polish, and an accomplished technique".[9] The Times said:
Notes, references and sources
Notes
- ^ There is, as is often the case with actresses born in the 19th century,[1] some doubt about Jeffreys's year of birth. Sources including The Times and Who's Who in the Theatre give the year as 1872;[2][3] a biographical sketch at the Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte website gives the year as 1868;[4] American and Canadian newspapers reporting her death gave her age as 74 and the year of birth 1868;[5][6][7][8] the obituary in The Stage gave her age at death as 69, which would make the year of birth 1873.[9]
- ^ According to a newspaper article in 1904 "Having charmed Sir Arthur Sullivan with her sweet mezzo-soprano voice, he gave her a part in The Yeomen of the Guard during the last six weeks of its run".[11]
References
- ^ Nissen, p. 13
- ^ a b "Miss Ellis Jeffreys: A True Comedian", The Times, 22 January 1943, p. 7
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Parker, pp. 494–495
- ^ Stone, David. "(Miss) Ellis Jeffreys (1889)", Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (1875–1982), 2013
- ^ "Ellis Jeffreys Dies", The Ottawa Citizen, 22 January 1943, p. 171
- The Gazette. Montreal (published 22 January 1943). CP. 21 January 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Written at London. "Ellis Jeffreys Passes; Actress in England". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. AP. 22 January 1943. p. 11. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Death Takes Actress", The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pennsylvania, 21 January 1943, p. 121
- ^ a b c d "Obituary: Ellis Jeffreys", The Stage, 28 January 1943, p. 5
- ^ a b "Marriages". The Times. London. 12 September 1894. p. 1. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Bride from the Stage", The Daily Mirror, 20 February 1904, p. 13
- ^ "Titles and the Stage". The Era. London. 20 February 1897. p. 16. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "From Actress to Aristocrat". The Sketch. LIII (683): 204. 28 February 1906. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ "'The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith'". The Era. London. 16 March 1895. p. 11. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith", IBDB. Retrieved 20 August 2020
- ^ "The London Theatres". The Era. London. 30 November 1895. p. 11. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Royalty Theatre". The Standard. London. 26 October 1896. p. 3. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "'His Little Dodge' at the Royalty". The Pall Mall Gazette. 26 October 1896. p. 3. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The London Theatres". The Era. 31 October 1896. p. 10. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Law Courts", The Times, 29 May 1903, p. 7
- ^ "At the Play". The Observer. London. 19 May 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 16 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The School for Scandal", The Daily News, 8 April 1909, p. 6; and "Sheridan at His Majesty's", The Era, 10 April 1909, p. 17
- ^ "His Majesty's", The Athenaeum, 17 April 1909, pp. 474–475
- ^ "His Majesty's Theatre", The Morning Post, 8 April 1909, p. 6
- ^ "Ellis Jeffreys", British Film Institute. Retrieved 2 September 2020
Sources
- Nissen, Axel (2016). Accustomed to Her Face. Jefferson NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9732-4.
- Parker, John, ed. (1925). Who's Who in the Theatre (fifth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 10013159.
External links
- Ellis Jeffreys at IMDb
- Ellis Jeffreys at the Internet Broadway Database
- Photos of Jeffreys at the National Portrait Gallery