Emélie Polini

Emélie Adeline Polini, generally written as Emelie, (24 March 1881 – 31 July 1927) was an English stage actress with a considerable career in Australia.

Polini was born in Steyning, Sussex, a daughter of theatrical manager Giovanni Marie Polini and his wife Harriet Frances, née Billings. Her acting career began in London, followed by work in companies touring in England and America. While on Broadway playing in Yes or No?, she was offered a contract with Australian firm J. C. Williamson by their agent E. J. Tait. In Australia she played Edward Clark's De Luxe Annie from April 1918 in Sydney and from July in Melbourne, where she married Lieutenant Ellis of the Royal Field Artillery, whom she had met on board the ship (he had been wounded in action and was on furlough). Her company next played Walter Hackett's The Invisible Foe then The Eyes of Youth. In 1919 she triumphantly toured Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle and New Zealand with revivals of De Luxe Annie and The Eyes of Youth. She returned to Sydney in 1920 with Monckton Hoffe's The Little Damozel and Kindling, then again toured with revivals before retiring in September 1920 to start a family.

She returned in 1922, starring in Edward Knoblock's My Lady's Dress with Frank Harvey, Henry Arthur Jones's The Lie, which toured to Adelaide and with revivals of her earlier successes in Perth and Hobart, followed in 1923 with a Sydney season of revivals and The Flaw, which she co-wrote with Doris Egerton Jones, and the farce French Leave, followed by another season of revivals in the other States. She left in April 1924 for London to visit her sister Marie Polini and her husband Owen Nares, both actors. She again appeared on stage in England and America, where she died, never having returned to Australia.

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