{{Short description|English actress (1883–1976)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox person | name= Ethel Coleridge | image= Ethel_Coleridge.jpg | caption= Photo from 1937 West End programme | birth_name = Ethel Coleridge Tucker | birth_place = South Molton, Devonshire, England | birth_date = 14 January 1883 | death_place = London, England | death_date = 15 August 1976 (aged 93) | occupation =Actress }} '''Ethel Coleridge''' (14 January 1883 – 15 August 1976) was an English actress, best known for her roles in the original Aldwych farces in the 1920s and 1930s.
==Life and career== Coleridge was born Ethel Coleridge Tucker in South Molton, Devonshire, and educated at Bristol University. At the age of 22 she appeared onstage for the first time as a member of the chorus in ''Carmen''.<ref name=times>Miss Ethel Coleridge, ''The Times'', 18 August 1976, p. 14</ref> Over the next fifteen years she acted in a wide range of touring companies, and finally made her West End debut in a cast led by Gladys Cooper, in a revival of ''My Lady's Dress'' by Edward Knoblock;<ref>"My Lady's Dress", ''The Times'', 5 April 1920, p. 6</ref> she played several roles in the piece, including Mrs Moss, "a stout, elderly, motherly type".<ref name=times/> Following this she was cast as Nancy Sibley in a revival of Knoblock and Arnold Bennett's ''Milestones''.<ref>"Milestones", ''The Times'', 22 November 1920, p. 10</ref> Over the next six years she played character roles in plays ranging from earnest drama to farce, and in 1926 she was recruited by Tom Walls for what became virtually a stock company at the Aldwych Theatre, led by Walls, Ralph Lynn and Robertson Hare, performing Aldwych farces.<ref name=times/>
At the Aldwych between 1926 and 1931, Coleridge played Gertrude in ''Rookery Nook''; Lady Benbow in ''Thark''; Mrs Orlock in ''Plunder''; Kate, the maid in ''A Cup of Kindness''; Mrs Knee in ''A Night Like This''; and Mona Flower in ''Turkey Time''.<ref name=times/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/jhv/ethel-coleridge|title=Ethel Coleridge | Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref> Established as a character actress, Coleridge continued to be cast in West End productions. Among her best-known roles was the bullying Clara Soppitt in J. B. Priestley's comedy, ''When We Are Married'' (1938).<ref>"St Martin's Theatre", ''The Times'', 12 October 1938, p. 12</ref>
Coleridge continued to act during and after the Second World War, and later appeared on BBC radio and television. She acted in films in the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bab3a095a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618020115/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bab3a095a|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 June 2018|title=Ethel Coleridge|website=BFI}}</ref>
==Selected filmography== * ''Rookery Nook'' (1930) * ''Plunder'' (1931) * ''Laburnum Grove'' (1936) * ''Lonely Road'' (1936) * ''Keep Your Seats, Please'' (1936) * ''Feather Your Nest'' (1937) * ''Penny Paradise'' (1938) * ''Second Best Bed'' (1938) * ''When We Are Married'' (1943) * ''Murder in Reverse'' (1945) * ''The Loves of Joanna Godden'' (1947)
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0171279}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleridge, Ethel}} Category:1883 births Category:1976 deaths Category:English film actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:Actresses from Devon Category:Alumni of the University of Bristol Category:Aldwych farce Category:People from South Molton Category:20th-century English actresses