{{Short description|British actress (1867–1920)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Maud-millett-1885.png|thumb|In ''The Private Secretary'', 1885|alt=Young white woman with fairly short, dark hair, in white or cream Victorian frock, leaning against a pillar]] '''Ethel Maude Millett''' (8 November 1867 – 16 February 1920) was a British actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for her roles in drawing room comedies. She created roles in plays by Arthur Wing Pinero, Oscar Wilde and J. M. Barrie among others.
==Life and career== Millett was born in Rajanpur (now in Pakistan, but then part of India), the daughter of Colonel Hugh Millett and his wife Julia, ''née'' Childs.<ref name=ancestry>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/307048/person/-90147885/facts " Ethel Maude Millett"], Ancestry. Retrieved 19 April 2021 {{subscription required}}</ref> She made her first appearance on the stage at the old Novelty Theatre in 1884, and as a result she was engaged by Charles Hawtrey for the part of Eva Webster in ''The Private Secretary'', which was then running at the Globe Theatre.<ref name=obit/> Two years later she appeared with Kate Vaughan at the Gaiety Theatre. When George Alexander moved from the Avenue Theatre to the St James's at the end of 1890 she was a member of his company, playing Kate Merryweather in C. Haddon Chambers's ''The Idler'' and Blanche Ferraby in R. C. Carton's ''Liberty Hall''.<ref>Wearing (1976), pp. 116 and 271–272</ref> When Alexander staged the first production of ''The Second Mrs Tanqueray'' (1893), she played Ellean to the Paula of Mrs Patrick Campbell.<ref>"The Second Mrs Tanqueray", ''The Era'', 3 June 1893, p. 9</ref>
In 1895, at the Haymarket Theatre Millett, in the role of Mabel Chiltern, was one of the principal players in the premiere of Oscar Wilde's ''An Ideal Husband'', with Hawtrey, Lewis Waller, Florence West and Julia Neilson.<ref>Wilde, p. 150</ref> In the same year she appeared with Charles Wyndham, Waller and Neilson in Carton's ''The Home Secretary''.<ref>Wearing (1976), p. 475</ref> It was later said of her: {{blockindent|Her services were always in great demand for comedy of this drawing-room kind, and at one time in her career there was no actress who was more frequently photographed—in fact, it is said that no undergraduate's room was complete without her picture.<ref name=obit>Obituary, ''The Times'', 18 February 1920, p. 14</ref>|}} [[File:Maude Millet - DPLA - 57fe938422a720f6b9d5d1e07c765d38 (page 1).jpg|thumb|Maude Millet, [ca. 1884–1910]. Cabinet Card Collection, Boston Public Library]] In February 1897 Millett married Henry Lancelot Tennant, an officer in the Royal Artillery, and temporarily retired from the stage.<ref name=ancestry/><ref name=obit/> They had one child, a son, who followed his father into the army.<ref name=obit/> She returned to the stage in 1899 for a revival of ''Sweet Lavender'' at Terry's Theatre,<ref>"Terry's Theatre", ''The Times'', 23 February 1899, p. 6</ref> and appeared in West End productions from time to time in the early years of the 20th century.<ref>Wearing (1981), pp. 142, 295 and 600</ref> One of her last appearances on the stage was in Gerald du Maurier's production of Sir James Barrie's fantasy ''Dear Brutus'' at Wyndham's Theatre, in 1917.<ref name=obit/>
Millett died in a nursing home in Teignmouth, Devon, aged 52, on 16 February 1920.<ref name=obit/> Her husband outlived her.<ref name=ancestry/>
==References and sources== ===References=== {{reflist}}
===Sources=== * {{cite book | last=Wearing | first=J. P. |authorlink=J. P. Wearing| title=The London Stage, 1890–1899: A Calendar of Plays and Players | year=1976 | location=Metuchen | publisher=Scarecrow Press|url= https://archive.org/details/londonstage189010001wear_p4k0/page/300/mode/2up| isbn=978-0-81-080910-9 }} * {{cite book | last=Wearing | first=J. P. | title=The London Stage, 1900–1909: A Calendar of Plays and Players | year=1981| location=Metuchen | publisher=Scarecrow Press| oclc=1245534136}} * {{cite book | last=Wilde | first=Oscar | authorlink=Oscar Wilde| title=Plays | year= 1966 | location=London | publisher=Penguin | oclc=16004478}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millett, Maude}} Category:1867 births Category:1920 deaths Category:English stage actresses Category:19th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English actresses Category:British people in British India