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Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (27 February 1847〔(Birth certificate is dated 1847 )〕 – 21 July 1928), was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens. At 16 she married the 46-year-old artist George Frederic Watts, but they separated within a year. She soon returned to the stage but began a relationship with the architect Edward William Godwin and retired from the stage for six years. She resumed acting in 1874 and was immediately acclaimed for her portrayal of roles in Shakespeare and other classics. In 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. Two of her most famous roles were Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice'' and Beatrice in ''Much Ado About Nothing''. She and Irving also toured with great success in America and Britain. In 1903 Terry took over management of London's Imperial Theatre, focusing on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen. The venture was a financial failure, and Terry turned to touring and lecturing. She continued to find acting success until 1920, while also appearing in films until 1922. Her career lasted nearly seven decades. == Early life and career == Alice Ellen Terry (she reversed her given names by the time of her first marriage) was born in Coventry, England, the third surviving child born into a theatrical family.〔(Biography and reviews of Terry )〕 Her parents, Benjamin (1818–96), of Irish descent, and Sarah (''née'' Ballard, 1819–92), of Scottish ancestry, were comic actors in a Portsmouth-based touring company,〔(Biography of Terry at the Stage Beauty website )〕 (where Sarah's father was a Wesleyan minister) and had 11 children. At least five of them became actors: Kate, Ellen, Marion, Florence, and Fred.〔Booth, Michael R. ("Terry, Dame Ellen Alice (1847–1928)", ) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008, accessed 4 January 2010〕 Two other children, George and Charles, were connected with theatre management.〔Hartnoll, pp. 815–17.〕 Kate (the grandmother of John Gielgud) and Marion were particularly successful on stage.〔(Obituary ), ''Time Magazine'', 1 September 1930〕 Terry made her first stage appearance at age eight, as Mamillius, opposite Charles Kean as Leontes, in Shakespeare's ''The Winter's Tale'' at London's Princess's Theatre in 1856.〔The photograph of Terry as Mamillius and Kean as Leontes was taken by Martin Laroche.〕 She also played the roles of Puck in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1856), Prince Arthur in ''King John'' (1858), and Fleance in ''Macbeth'' (1859), continuing at the Princess's Theatre until the Keans' retirement in 1859.〔Hartnoll, p. 816.〕 During the theatre's summer closures, Terry's father presented drawing-room entertainments at the Royal Colosseum, Regent's Park, London, and then on tour. In 1859, she appeared in the Tom Taylor comedy ''Nine Points of the Law'' at the Olympic Theatre.〔 For the next two years, Terry and her sister Kate toured the British provinces in sketches and plays, accompanied by their parents and a musician.〔 Between 1861 and 1862, Terry was engaged by the Royalty Theatre in London, managed by Madame Albina de Rhona, where she acted with W. H. Kendal, Charles Wyndham and other famous actors. In 1862, she joined her sister Kate in J. H. Chute's stock company at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, where she played a wide variety of parts, including burlesque roles requiring singing and dancing, as well as roles in ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Othello'', and ''The Merchant of Venice''.〔(Terry Biography at Answers.com )〕 In 1863, Chute opened the Theatre Royal, Bath, where 15-year-old Terry appeared at the opening as Titania in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', then returned to London to join J. B. Buckstone's company at the Haymarket Theatre in Shakespearean roles as well as Sheridan and modern comedies.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ellen Terry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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