Born Mary Louise Whitty at 8 Catharine Street on the 19th of June 1865 to William Alfred Whitty a newspaper proprietor and Mary Louisa (née Ashton). Her paternal grandfather was Michael James Whitty, the first chief constable of the Liverpool police and founder of the Daily Post newspaper. Her love of acting came from her father Alfred, who loved music halls and was for a time involved in theatre management. She made her first stage appearance in Liverpool in 1881, appearing as a sylph in Mountain Sylph at the Royal Court Theatre. The following year she was on stage in London for the first time, as part of the chorus in La Mascotte. Towards the end of 1883 she took the brave step of giving up her employment and was accepted by London's St James Theatre, where she spent two years as understudy to established actresses and playing small parts.
On the 3rd of August 1892, in St Giles's Parish Church, London, she married actor-manager Ben Webster, who had given up being a barrister to pursue his acting ambitions. The couple lived in Covent Garden, where their home was often used to provide shelter and relief for actors who had fallen upon hard times. For many years she was chair of the Ladies Theatrical Guild, which helped all members of the profession, including stagehands and dressers.
In 1895 they visited the United States, where she appeared on Broadway. She was also part of the suffragette movement, having heard Emmeline Pankhurst speak in 1905, and was concerned at the lack of opportunities in the theatre for senior non acting parts, such as directors and managers. She returned to the USA again in 1905, giving birth to her second child Margaret Webster (her first child, a son, had died at birth on Christmas Day 1903). May began suffering from migraines and depression after Peggy was born but she nevertheless joined the Actresses' Franchise League (AFL), which gave her new purpose. She would eventually become its Chair.
May's stage career continued for the rest of her life. In March 1910, she made her transition to middle-aged and elderly character roles, playing Amelia Madras in Harley Granville-Barker's four-act comedy The Madras House. In 1914 she appeared in her first film, playing Miriam Lane in Enoch Arden, a silent drama production of Lord Tennyson's poem of the same name. During World War One, May worked tirelessly to fundraise for the British Women's Hospitals, the Scottish Women's Hospitals, and the Nation's Fund for Nurses. At the end of the War, the Government finally gave the vote to some married women over thirty under the Representation of the People Act. However, many actresses over the age of thirty remained ineligible to vote because they did not meet the property and marital status qualifications. The fight for equal franchise was still to be won, and the AFL, with May as one of its leaders, was determined to continue campaigning. She did appear in productions that entertained troops however and in the New Year honours of 1918 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire under her legal married name Mary Louise Webster. This was awarded in recognition of her charitable work during WW1 for the Three Arts Women's Employment Fund and the British Women's Hospitals Committee. Alongside operatic soprano Nellie Melba, she became the first film and stage actress to be given such an honour. In March 1922, she played the role of Mrs.Bennet before the Queen in a benefit performance of Pride and Prejudice acting opposite her husband, who performed as Mr. Darcy. May, representing the AFL, attended the funeral of Emmeline Pankhurst on the 18th of June 1928.
In 1930 at her London flat she she helped Alfred Wall form the actors' union, Equity. After the war ended she mainly appeared in stage roles, settling with her husband in New York. Then in 1937 she made her Hollywood debut at the age of 72, recreating her 1935 stage role playing Mrs Bramson in Night Must Fall which also starred Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. This went on to be named best film of the year by the National Board of Review and May received an Oscar nomination. Having moved permanently to the United States (although she never became a US citizen ) in 1939 they settled in Beverly Hills and she appeared in over thirty more films. Amongst them were Lassie Come Home, The White Cliffs of Dover and Alfred Hitchcock's, The Lady Vanishes. Many of her parts involved her playing wealthy English widows and one such part, as Lady Beldon in Mrs Miniver in 1942, brought her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. When asked about retiring in 1940 she had responded, "Only the aged and infirm quit and I am neither". She also once said, "I've got everything Betty Grable has...only I've had it longer."
She and her husband never returned to England continuing to live in Hollywood, celebrating their golden wedding anniversary in 1942. She died of cancer at the age of 82 on the 29th of May 1948 in Beverly Hills, California, a year after losing her husband Ben. A memorial service took place for her on the 10th of June at St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London with John Gielgud being amongst those present. She is commemorated with a plaque at St Paul's parish church, Covent Garden, alongside the plaque to her husband. Her daughter Margaret penned her mother's biography, The Same Only Different, published in 1969.
see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/08/a-liverpool-exemplar-john-cunningham.html
No comments:
Post a Comment