{{short description|American actress (1895–1979)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ursula St. George | image = Ursula St George, stage actress (SAYRE 9585).jpg | alt = A young smiling white woman, standing, wearing a light-colored dress with buttons down the front of the bodice and a ruffled neckline. | caption = Ursula St. George, in an autographed photo from 1912. | other_names = | birth_name = Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness | birth_date = October 22, 1895 | birth_place = Staten Island, New York, US | death_date = May 1979 | death_place = Chichester, West Sussex, England | occupation = Actress, art collector | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Anders Eric Knös Cull (d. 1968) | relatives = James Planché (great-grandfather); Matilda Anne Mackarness (grandmother); George Bellew (son-in-law) }}
'''Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness Cull '''(October 22, 1895 – May 1979)<ref>{{cite web |title=Death record |url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=263126253:4394&d=bmd_1742796865 |website=FreeBMD |access-date=5 April 2025}}</ref>; known professionally as '''Ursula St. George''', was an American actress as a teenager. Later in life, known as '''U. E. K. Cull''', she collected art and ancient Chinese artifacts with her banker husband in London.
== Early life == Ursula Edith Kate Mackarness was born on Staten Island. Her English-born father Charles Mackarness<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=1913-09-17|title=New York Girl to Wed Dog Fancier|pages=1|work=The Alaska Daily Empire|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58734561/new-york-girl-to-wed-dog-fancier/|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> was a grandson of dramatist James Planché and son of novelist Matilda Anne Mackarness; he was a magazine editor, sculptor, and dog breeder.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Anthony|first=Walter|date=1912-03-03|title=Give the Children a Chance Says Little Ursula St. George|pages=47|work=The San Francisco Call|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58733322/give-the-children-a-chance-says-little/|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=September 1, 1900|title=Purely Personal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AqRgmi1g6LwC&q=Charles+Mackarness+editor&pg=RA33-PA7|journal=Fourth Estate|pages=7}}</ref> Her mother was an actress, and toured with young Ursula as a chaperone.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 6, 1912|title=Rebecca|page=3|work=The Daily Missoulian|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025316/1912-05-06/ed-1/seq-3/|access-date=September 5, 2020|via=Chronicling America}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=January 7, 1912|title=Ursula St. George|page=26|work=San Antonio Light|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-jan-07-1912-1952680/|access-date=September 6, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref>
== Career == St. George appeared in ''The Blue Bird'' (1911),<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hines|first1=Dixie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qts9AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Ursula+St.+George%22+actress&pg=PA399|title=Who's who in Music and Drama|last2=Hanaford|first2=Harry Prescott|date=1914|publisher=H.P. Hanaford|pages=399|language=en}}</ref> and was best known in the title role in ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'', which she performed across the United States and Canada in a Klaw and Erlanger production, 1911 and 1912.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 1911|title=Rebecca is Coming|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gk0UAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Ursula+St.+George%22+actress&pg=RA1-PA58|journal=The Texas Magazine|volume=5|pages=58|last1=Eberle|first1=Frank|last2=Denmark|first2=Harry Van}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=A Scene from "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"|url=http://seattletheatrehistory.org/photograph-record/scene-rebecca-sunnybrook-farm-1|access-date=2020-09-06|website=Seattle Theatre History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=March 20, 1912|title='Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm', a Great Play, is Here Tonight|work=Bakersfield Californian|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-mar-20-1912-1951950/|access-date=September 5, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> She was sixteen years old for much of the run of the show.<ref>{{Cite news|date=April 26, 1912|title=This Leading Lady is 16|page=1|work=Tacoma Times|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/entertainment-clipping-apr-26-1912-1952619/|access-date=September 6, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> "Miss St. George holds her audience in the delicious spell of her girlishness and ingenuous beauty," raved a Texas critic.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1912-01-09|title=Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm at the Prince|pages=5|work=The Houston Post|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11015115/paving-election-191912/|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
She and her husband were art collectors, and had a particularly valuable collection of ancient Chinese artifacts. In 1927, Australian artist James Peter Quinn painted her portrait.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1927-06-18|title=Art in London|pages=10|work=Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article180112033|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Trove}}</ref> In 1972, she donated a pair of ancient Chinese [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1972-0229-1-a bronze vessels] to the British Museum, with enough money to build a case for them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1972-08-16|title=Rare Urns for Museum|pages=6|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58740768/rare-urns-for-museum/|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rawson|first=Jessica|date=1972|title=Two Chinese Bronze Ritual Vessels (British Museum)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/877157|journal=The Burlington Magazine|volume=114|issue=837|pages=870–873|jstor=877157|issn=0007-6287}}</ref> Other Cull collection items were auctioned by Sotheby's in the 1960s,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1964|title=Front Matter: May Sales|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/874206|journal=The Burlington Magazine|volume=106|issue=734|pages=xii|jstor=874206|issn=0007-6287}}</ref> and she sold seven paintings by James Peter Quinn in 1975.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1989-07-27|title=AUSTRALIAN ROYAL PORTRAIT PAINTER'S CAREER ENDS WITH WAXWORKS IMAGE|url=https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/arts-and-culture/australian-royal-portrait-painters-career-ends-with-waxworks-image-19890727-k3ihm|access-date=2020-09-06|website=Australian Financial Review|language=en}}</ref> Further objects from their collection were bequeathed to the British Museum in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mrs. U. E. K. Cull; 14 Related Objects|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG9244|access-date=2020-09-06|website=British Museum}}</ref>
== Personal life == Ursula Mackarness married London banker Anders Eric Knos Cull in 1913, in London.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=September 4, 1913|title=Miss U. E. K. Mackarness to Wed|page=4|work=The New York Times|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/marriage-clipping-sep-04-1913-1952685/|access-date=September 6, 2020|via=NewspaperArchive.com}}</ref> They had six children and lived at Warfield House in Bracknell, Berkshire.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1959-07-18|title=Weds in July Rites|pages=6|work=The Daily Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58741047/weds-in-july-rites/|access-date=2020-09-06|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Their eldest daughter, Ursula Kennard Cull, was married to Sir George Rothe Bellew, Garter Principal King of Arms. The Culls' grandson Eric Brodnax was a member of the equestrian team representing the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1997-05-11|title=Leigh Culver, Eric Brodnax|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/11/style/leigh-culver-eric-brodnax.html|access-date=2020-09-06|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Ursula Mackarness Cull was widowed in 1968,<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 7, 1968|title=Deaths|page=18|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/tto/archive/frame/article/1968-05-07/18/4.html|access-date=September 6, 2020}}</ref> and died in May, 1979.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1979-08-05 |title=£1m. Cull Will |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-telegraph-will-of-ursula-edith-ka/196975708/ |work=The Sunday Telegraph |page=40|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Mackarness family tree}} {{Subject bar|portal1=Biography}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. George, Ursula}} Category:1895 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Actresses from Staten Island Category:American stage actresses Category:British art collectors Category:American women art collectors Category:People from Bracknell Category:Actresses from Berkshire Category:Actors from Bracknell Forest Category:20th-century American art collectors