Athene Seyler
| Athene Seyler | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
31 May 1889 Hackney, London, England |
| Died | 12 September 1990 (aged 101) Hammersmith, London, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1909–68 |
| Spouse(s) |
James Bury Sterndale Bennett (1914-?) (1 child) Nicholas Hannen (1960-1972) (his death) |
| Partner(s) | Nicholas Hannen (1922-1960) |
| Children | Joan Anne Bennett (b. 1917) |
Athene Seyler, CBE (31 May 1889 – 12 September 1990) was an English actress.
Athene Seyler was educated at Coombe Hill School in Surrey, a progressive co-educational school which disliked petitionary prayer and whose advanced biology classes studied Darwin's On The Origin of Species. Seyler took part in an anti-blood sports demonstration, during which pupils captured the fox from the local hunt.
She was also active in the South Place Ethical Society during the 1920s, where her father Clarence H. Seyler took his family for many years to hear Moncure Conway lecture as an alternative to attending a religious Sunday service. Clarence ran a class for the study of Herbert Spencer, contributed to the South Place magazine on rationalist matters and wrote a treatise on birth control which he circulated privately among his family.
Although better known as a stage actress- she first appeared on the stage in 1909- she made her film debut in 1921, and became known for playing slightly dotty old ladies in many British films from the 1930s to the 1960s.
In 1933, Seyler together with Nicholas Hannen, took a company which included Hannen's daughter by his first marriage, Hermione Hannen, on a well received tour of the Far East and Australia.
Her most memorable stage credits included Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals, Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and a double-act, with her good friend Dame Sybil Thorndike, as the murderous spinster sisters in Arsenic and Old Lace.
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