{{Short description|English actress (1878–1949)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Ruth Mackay | image = Ruth Mackay Brett 1910.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Ruth Mackay in ''Beau Brocade'' (1908) | birth_date = 9 May 1878 | birth_place = Kennington, London, United Kingdom | death_date = {{death date and age|31 March 1949|9 May 1878}} | death_place = Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom | other_names = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1915 - 1922 (film) | spouse = Eille Norwood }} '''Ruth Mackay''' (9 May 1878 – 31 March 1949) was a British stage and silent film actress.<ref>Goble p.290</ref> She was married to actor Eille Norwood.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/157924346 |title=An Idle Woman's Diary |newspaper=The National Advocate |page=1 |date=7 May 1915 |publisher=National Library of Australia |accessdate=27 February 2017}}</ref>
She was born in Kennington in London in 1878, the daughter of David McDonald MacKay (1839–1910) and Florence ''née'' Dignam (1846–). Her daughter was Marjorie Florence Grahame - the actress Jane Grahame (1899–1981). In 1905 Mackay married the actor Eille Norwood; they were to remain together until his death.
In 1902 she toured Australia as Iras in ''Ben Hur''. She was 'Carrots' in ''Resurrection'' (1903) with Herbert Beerbohm Tree and appeared in ''The Gordian Knot'' before travelling to New York to appear with Nat Goodwin in ''The Usurper'' at the Knickerbocker Theatre in 1904.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-usurper-4897 Ruth Mackay in ''The Usurper''] - Internet Broadway Database</ref> In 1905 she was Potiphar's Wife in ''Joseph and His Brethren'' at the Coliseum in London.<ref>Review of ''Joseph and His Brethren''- ''The Tatler'', 11 October 1905</ref> while in 1908 she was in ''Beau Brocade''.<ref>'Plays, Music, and Other Entertainments' - ''The Tatler'', 19 October 1904, pg. 173</ref> She played the title role in ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'' (1913) at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow,<ref>Michel W. Pharand, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JE4GzOI0JUkC&pg=PA63 ''Dionysian Shaw''], The Pennsylvania State University Press (2004) - Google Books pg. 63</ref> was Miriam Leigh in ''The Man Who Stayed at Home'' at the Royalty Theatre (1914)<ref>Andrew Maunder (ed), [https://books.google.com/books?id=9J-FCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT8 ''British Theatre and the Great War, 1914 - 1919: New Perspectives''], Palgrave Macmillan (2015) - Google Books</ref> and was Mrs. Gordon Peel in ''The Luck of the Navy'' (1918) at the Queen's Theatre.<ref>Review of ''The Luck of the Navy'' - ''The Sphere'', 14 September 1918, pg. 190</ref>
In her later years, she lived with her husband at Corner Cottage, Waverley Lane in Farnham in Surrey. Ruth Mackay Brett died in Westfields Nursing Home in Whitstable in Kent.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/32858_609838_2441-00382/17860777 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Ruth Brett 1949- Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}]</ref>
==Filmography== * ''Honeymoon for Three'' (1915) * ''Esther'' (1916) * ''East Is East'' (1916) * ''Merely Mrs. Stubbs'' (1917) * ''The Woman Who Was Nothing'' (1917) * ''Goodbye'' (1918) * ''No Children Wanted'' (1918) * ''Duke's Son'' (1920) * ''Testimony'' (1920) * ''Innocent'' (1921) * ''The Place of Honour'' (1921) * ''The Scourge'' (1922)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0533205}} *[https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55976/ruth-mackay Collection of photographic portraits of Ruth Mackay] - National Portrait Gallery, London
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, Ruth}} Category:1878 births Category:1949 deaths Category:English stage actresses Category:English film actresses Category:English silent film actresses Category:Actresses from London Category:20th-century English actresses Category:Actors from the London Borough of Lambeth Category:People from Kennington