Madge Kendal
|
Dame Madge Kendal DBE |
|
|---|---|
Madge Kendal
|
|
| Born |
March 15, 1848 Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | September 14, 1935 (aged 87) Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, England |
| Occupation | Actress, theatre manager |
| Spouse(s) | W. H. Kendal (m. 1869–1917; his death); 5 children |
Dame Madge Kendal DBE (born Margaret Shafto Robertson; 15 March 1848 – 14 September 1935) was an English actress of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, best known for her roles in Shakespeare and English comedies. Together with her husband, W. H. Kendal, she became an important theatre manager.
Kendal was born in Cleethorpes, reportedly the youngest of 22 children of Margharetta Elisabetta Robertson (née Marinus; died 1876), a native of Denmark, and her English husband, William Robertson (died 1872), who joined his wife's family of actors and became their manager in 1830. One of Kendal's brothers was T.W. Robertson, a dramatist who led the movement toward naturalistic acting and design in theatre. One of her sisters, Fanny Robertson, was also an actress. Kendal was home-schooled by a governess and her father, who read Shakespeare to her from an early age.
In 1854, Kendal had her first speaking role as Marie in the drama The Struggle for Gold by Edward Stirling under her father's management. She next appeared with her family as a blind girl, Jeannie, in the stage adaptation of The Seven Poor Travellers by Charles Dickens. Her family was engaged by in Bristol the next year, where Kendal played in an adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin as Eva. Although she sang well as a child, she contracted diphtheria, and her voice suffered after the removal of her tonsils. Nevertheless, she played a singing role in A Midsummer Night's Dream, with songs by Felix Mendelssohn, at the Bath Theatre in 1863, starring sisters Ellen and Kate Terry as Titania and Oberon, respectively. Throughout this period, she performed with her family in Bristol and Bath.
...
Wikipedia