{{Short description|English actress (1853–1930)}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} thumb|right|Marion Terry '''Marion Bessie Terry''' (born '''Mary Ann Bessy Terry;''' 13 October 1853 – 21 August 1930) was an English actress. In a career spanning half a century, she played leading roles in more than 125 plays.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121025182105/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,740213-2,00.html Obituary] ''Time Magazine'', 1 September 1930</ref> Always in the shadow of her older and more famous sister Ellen, Terry nevertheless achieved considerable success in the plays of W. S. Gilbert, Oscar Wilde, Henry James and others.
==Biography== Terry was born in England, into a theatrical family. Her birth name was Mary Ann Bessy Terry, and she was nicknamed "Polly".<ref name=DNB>Booth, Michael R. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/38758, "Terry, Marion Bessie (1853–1930)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press (2004), accessed 7 January 2010</ref> Her parents, Benjamin (1818–1896), of Irish descent, and Sarah (née Ballard) (1819–1892),<ref>Gielgud, p. 222</ref> of Scottish ancestry, were comic actors in a touring company based in Portsmouth<ref name=SB>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/terry/terry-e2.html |title=Biography of Ellen Terry at the Stage Beauty website |access-date=7 January 2010 |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129064846/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/terry/terry-e2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> (where Sarah's father was a Wesleyan minister) and had eleven children. At least five of these became actors: Kate, Ellen, Marion, Florence and Fred.<ref>Booth, Michael R. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36460 "Terry, Dame Ellen Alice (1847–1928)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008, accessed 4 January 2010</ref> Two other children, George and Charles, were connected with theatre management.<ref>Hartnoll, pp. 815–17.</ref>
Terry's sister Kate was a very successful actress until her marriage and retirement from the stage in 1867, and her sister Ellen became the greatest Shakespearean actress of her time. Her great nephew (Kate's grandson), Sir John Gielgud, became one of the twentieth century's most respected actors.<ref>[http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Terry,+Dame+(Alice)+Ellen Hutchinson encyclopedia article on Terry family]</ref> Terry attended a boarding-school for girls at Sunnyside, Kingston upon Thames, together with her favourite sister, Florence.<ref name=DNB/>
===Career=== left|thumb|Marion Terry, c. 1880 Terry's first professional stage appearance was in July 1873 as Ophelia in a production of ''Hamlet'' directed by Tom Taylor in Manchester. Her first West End appearance came in October 1873 as Isabelle in a farce by John Maddison Morton, ''A Game of Romps'' at the Olympic Theatre, in the company of Henry Neville. This was followed by the role of Lady Valeria in Morton's ''All that Glitters Is Not Gold'' at the same theatre. In 1874, she was Hero in Shakespeare's ''Much Ado About Nothing'' at the Olympic. She then played a season at the Strand Theatre, and in 1875 appeared in ''Weak Woman'' by H. J. Byron.
Terry next joined the company at the Haymarket Theatre and became a protege of W. S. Gilbert,<ref name=Stedman158>Stedman, p. 158</ref> soon appearing in several of his plays, including ''Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith'' (1876) as Dorothy,<ref>Ainger, p. 123</ref> ''The Palace of Truth'' (1876 revival),<ref>Ainger, p. 125</ref> ''Pygmalion and Galatea'' (1877 revival) and ''Engaged'' (1877), creating the role of Belinda Treherne with great success.<ref name=DNB/> Critics praised her for her "deadpan" humor, and audiences were "helpless with laughter at her novel approach and immaculate timing".<ref>Shearer, p.</ref> Also during that period, she first appeared in ''The Danischeffs'', adapted by Lord Newry (1876), ''Fame'' by C. M. Rae (1877), ''Charles XII'' by James Planché (1877 revival),<ref>Adams, p. 274</ref> ''The Vagabond'', by Gilbert (1878),<ref>Ainger, p. 150</ref> ''Two Orphans'' (1878),<ref>Ainger, p. 164</ref> ''The Crushed Tragedian'',<ref name=Stedman158/> and ''My Little Girl'' by Dion Boucicault. In 1879 she moved to the Prince of Wales's Theatre under the management of the Bancrofts and then moved with the company to the Haymarket, performing in revivals of T. W. Robertson's comedies, including as Blanche Haye in ''Ours'' and Bella in ''School''. In 1879 she also appeared as Mabel in ''Duty'' by James Albert and the title role in ''Gretchen'' by Gilbert.<ref name=DNB/>
Now an established actress, Terry continued to play leading roles in contemporary plays. She was Bathsheba in the stage adaptation of ''Far from the Madding Crowd'' by Thomas Hardy and J. Comyns Carr (1882). The same year, she starred with Lottie Venne and Johnston Forbes-Robertson in G. W. Godfrey's comedy ''The Parvenu'' at the Court Theatre.<ref>Culme, John. [http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/20050305home.html Footlight Notes No. 389] at Footlightnotes.tripod.com, accessed 18 November 2009</ref> She substituted for her sister Ellen, who was ill, as Viola in ''Twelfth Night'' at the Lyceum Theatre in 1884. In 1885 she played in ''The Magistrate'' by Arthur Wing Pinero. In 1887, she joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree first at the Comedy Theatre and then at the Haymarket. That year, she also appeared in ''The Ballad-Monger'', by Walter Bessant. In February 1888, she starred in a revival of Gilbert's ''Broken Hearts''.<ref>[http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/other_gilbert/broken_hearts/intro.html Introduction to ''Broken Hearts''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829120846/http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas//other_gilbert/broken_hearts/intro.html |date=29 August 2008 }}, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive</ref> Later that year, she toured the British provinces with Henry Irving in another of her sister Ellen's roles, Margaret in ''Faust''. She played Mrs. Erroll in ''The Real Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1889),<ref>Foulkes, p. 98</ref> appeared in ''Cyrene'' by Alfred C. Calmour (1890), and appeared in 1891 in ''Sunlight and Shadow'' by R. C. Carton. She continued to tour with Irving's Lyceum company in the 1890s, as Rosamund in Alfred Lord Tennyson's ''Becket'', as Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice'' (one of her sister's signature roles), and again as Margaret.<ref name=DNB/> [[File:GilbertinRosencrantz.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.85|Terry and W. S. Gilbert in ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern'' (1908)]]
===Later years=== In 1892 Terry played perhaps her most famous role, Mrs. Erlynne in ''Lady Windermere's Fan'', by Oscar Wilde, at the St James's Theatre. This was followed by Hetty in ''The Cotton King'' by Sutton Vane Sr. (1893). In 1895, she appeared in ''Alabama'' by Augustus Thomas, in the title role in ''Delia Harding'' by J. Comyns Carr, and as Mrs. Peverel in ''Guy Domville'' by Henry James. In 1900 she played the roles of Rosalind and Portia at the Stratford festival. She was Nina in ''Forgiveness'' by J. Comyns Carr (1901), the title role in ''Eleanor'' by Mrs. Humphry Ward (1902), Susan Throssell in ''Quality Street'' by J. M. Barrie (1902), and Audrie in ''Michael and His Lost Angel'' by Henry Arthur Jones, among many other engagements.<ref name=DNB/>
In 1907, Terry performed in a Royal Command Performance of the 1855 Tom Taylor play, ''Still Waters Run Deep'', together with Charles Wyndham, before King Edward VII.<ref name=stage>Gillan, Don. [http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-commnd.html A History of the Royal Command Performance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029185204/http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-commnd.html |date=29 October 2013 }}, StageBeauty.net, accessed 16 June 2009</ref> She played Hamlet's mother in a 1908 revival of Gilbert's parody of ''Hamlet'', ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern''. She toured in America and Canada in 1908 and 1909. Her last role was the Principessa della Cercola in ''Our Betters at the Globe'' by Somerset Maugham in 1923, fifty years after her first professional appearance. Suffering from arthritis and other ailments, she retired from the stage. In her last years, Terry lived in Paddington, after having lived for many years at Buckingham Palace Mansions.<ref name=Timesobit>Obituary, ''The Times'', 22 August 1930</ref>
Terry died at her home in 1930, aged 76, of a cerebral haemorrhage and was buried at St Albans cemetery.<ref name=Timesobit/> She never married and, intensely private offstage, nothing is known of her romantic life. She left an estate of more than £12,000.<ref name=DNB/>
==See also== *Terry family
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *Adams, William Davenport. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1UM5AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Marion+Terry%22+%22W.+S.+Gilbert%22 ''A Dictionary of the Drama''], Chatto & Windus, 1904 * {{cite book|last=Ainger|first=Michael|year=2002|title=Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-514769-3}} *Gielgud, John. ''An Actor and His Time'', Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1979. {{ISBN|0-283-98573-9}} *Ellen Terry's memoirs, ed. E. Craig and C. St John (New York, 1932) *Foulkes, Richard. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0UzBgODcWGQC&dq=%22Marion+Terry%22+actress&pg=PA98 ''Lewis Carroll and the Victorian Stage''], Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005 {{ISBN|0-7546-0466-7}} *Hartnoll, Phyllis and Peter Found, ''The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre''. (1992) Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-866136-3}} *Mullin, D. (ed.) ''Victorian actors and actresses in review: a dictionary of contemporary views of representative British and American actors and actresses'', 1837–1901 (1983) *Parker, J. (ed.) ''Who's Who in the Theatre'', 6th edn (1930) *Pemberton, Thomas Edgar. ''Ellen Terry and her sisters'', London: C. Arthur Pearson, Ltd (1902) * Shearer, Moira. ''Ellen Terry'' (1998) Sutton Publishing, Phoenix Mill {{ISBN|0-7509-1526-9}} *{{cite book|last=Stedman|first=Jane W.|year=1996|title=W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-816174-3}} *Steen, M. ''A pride of Terrys'' (1962)
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp54567/marion-terry?search=sas&sText=Marion+Terry Marion Terry] at the National Portrait Gallery, London *[https://archive.today/20110719211512/http://images.library.uiuc.edu:8081/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/actors&CISOBOX1=Terry,+Marion,+1856-1930 Several portraits of Marion Terry] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611170138/http://content.lib.washington.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fportraits&CISOPTR=504 1880 photo of Marion Terry]
{{Terry family tree}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Marion}} Category:English stage actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:Women of the Victorian era Category:1852 births Category:1930 deaths Category:W. S. Gilbert mentors, protegees Category:Terry family