{{Short description|British singer and actress (1860–1939)}} {{For|the British philanthropist and nurse|Lady Sybil Grey}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} [[File:SybilGreyportrait.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Sybil Grey as Sacharissa in ''Princess Ida'' (1884)]] '''Ellen Sophia Taylor''' (3 January 1860 – 20 August 1939), known professionally as '''Sybil Grey''', was a British singer and actress during the Victorian era best known for creating a series of minor roles in productions by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, including roles in several of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas, from 1880 to 1888. Afterwards, she went on to a long West End theatre career, appearing in both musical theatre and plays.
==Early life and career== Grey was born in London’s Conduit Street West, the second daughter of Henry Taylor, a linen draper, and his Exeter-born wife Susannah.<ref name=Ganzlblog>Gänzl, Kurt. [https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-third-little-maid.html "The third little maid"], Kurt Gänzl's blog, 25 April 2018</ref> Grey began her stage career with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1880 as a member of the chorus and understudy during the first London production of Gilbert and Sullivan's ''The Pirates of Penzance'' at the Opera Comique, appearing in the small role of Kate for a short period in July 1880. In the company's next opera, ''Patience'', also at the Opera Comique, Grey was in the chorus but may also have understudied the role of Lady Saphir. After ''Patience'' moved to the new Savoy Theatre in November 1881, Grey also played the non-singing role of Jane in the curtain raiser ''Mock Turtles'' by Frank Desprez and Eaton Faning.<ref name=Who>Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/G/GreySybil.htm Sybil Grey] at ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'', 27 August 2001, accessed 20 November 2009</ref>
[[File:ThreelittlemaidsLondon1885.jpg|left|thumb|Grey, Braham and Bond in ''The Mikado'']] Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Iolanthe'' followed at the Savoy in November 1882. Grey created the non-singing role of Fleta, while continuing as Jane in ''Mock Turtles''. When ''Mock Turtles'' was replaced by ''A Private Wire'' in March 1883, Grey played Mary, the maid. Later that year, she was given the singing role of Leila in ''Iolanthe''. She continued as both Mary and Leila until January 1884, when both operas closed. In the next Gilbert and Sullivan opera, ''Princess Ida'', she created the role of Sacharissa. When that opera closed, she was in the chorus of the revival of ''The Sorcerer'' and played the minor role of First Bridesmaid in the accompanying ''Trial by Jury''.<ref name=Who/>
Grey created the role of Peep-Bo, one of the three ''Little Maids'', in the original production of ''The Mikado'', with Jessie Bond (Pitti-Sing) and Leonora Braham (Yum-Yum), for the show's entire run from 1885 to 1887.<ref name=Who/> In an 1885 interview with the ''New York Daily Tribune'', author W. S. Gilbert stated that the short stature of Braham, Bond and Grey "suggested the advisability of grouping them as three Japanese school-girls" referred to in the opera as the 'three little maids'".<ref name=Trib>[http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ajcrowth/mikado.htm "The Evolution of The Mikado"], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511233510/http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ajcrowth/mikado.htm |date=11 May 2009 }} ''New York Daily Tribune'', 9 August 1885</ref> ''The Theatre'' of April 1885 said, "Miss Sybil Grey is one of the valuable recruits above alluded to. She has a pretty voice, her intonation is correct and her appearance attractive."<ref>Beatty-Kingston, William [http://www.savoyoperas.org.uk/mikado/mik4.html "Our Musical-Box"], ''The Theatre'', 1 April 1885, pp. 186–90</ref>
After this long engagement, Grey withdrew from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After a short tour with May Holt's company,<ref name=Ganzlblog/> from December 1887, Grey had roles in two musical burlesques by composer Meyer Lutz at the Gaiety Theatre in London, then managed by George Edwardes. One was Vanilla in ''Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim'', with a libretto by Richard Henry.<ref>Stuart, Roxana. [https://books.google.com/books?id=flzKFymvfj0C&pg=PA331 "Stage blood: vampires of the 19th-century stage"], p. 331, Popular Press, 1994 {{ISBN|0-87972-660-1}}</ref> The other was as Zillah in ''Miss Esmeralda, or The Maid and the Monkey'',<ref>''The Daily News'', 27 December 1887, p. 2</ref> By April 1888, she was also playing Polly in the farce ''Lot 49'',<ref name=Ganzlblog/> which she also played at a benefit for Nellie Farren.<ref>''The Era'' 21 April 1888, p. 8</ref> In June 1888, she returned to the Savoy for the first revival of ''The Mikado'', playing her old role of Peep-Bo. During this run, she took roles in two benefit performances of Gilbert's blank verse "fairy plays". The first was Lady Amanthis in ''Broken Hearts'' at a charity matinée at the Savoy, in a cast that included Julia Neilson, Richard Temple and Lewis Waller.<ref>''The Era'', 2 June 1888, p. 8</ref> The other was in ''The Wicked World'', along with George Alexander and Lionel Brough.<ref>''The Era'', 7 July 1888, p. 8</ref> In September of that year, after the ''Mikado'' revival's run ended, she again left the D'Oyly Carte company, never to return.<ref name=Who/>
==Later years== After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Grey enjoyed a long West End theatre career.<ref name=Who/> She began with Drury Lane pantomimes, including playing one of the Merry Men in ''Babes in the Wood'' in 1888 with Harry Payne, Dan Leno as the Dame, and Harriet Vernon as Robin Hood. She and Rosina Brandram appeared in a musical version of ''Newport'' (''The Song of the Looking Glass'') in a vanity production at Devonshire House. In 1889–1890 Grey continued at Drury Lane as Deborah Wood in ''The Royal Oak'', the Royal Housemaid in ''Jack and the Beanstalk'', and, in ''Beauty and the Beast'' as the King of Diamonds.<ref name=Ganzlblog/> In 1891 she played Alice Ormerod in ''A Lancashire Sailor'', by Brandon Thomas, and Lily Eaton-Belgrave in ''A Pantomime Rehearsal'', both at the Shaftesbury Theatre.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MtIUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA167 ''Dramatic notes'', Volumes 12–13], pp. 58, 162 and 167, D. Bogue, 1891</ref> She also played the title-role in ''Nan, the Good-for-Nothing'' and Lucy Morley in an unsuccessful tryout of a farce called ''Our Doctors'' at Terry's Theatre.<ref name=Ganzlblog/> The following year, she starred as Sally in ''Crazed'' and appeared in ''Faithful James'' (by B. C. Stephenson), with Ellaline Terriss and Brandon Thomas, both at the Court Theatre.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D04E7DD1338E233A25753C3A9669D94639ED7CF "The Theatres of London"], ''The New York Times'', 30 October 1892, p. 13</ref><ref>[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15026/15026-h/15026-h.htm "Court On"], ''Punch'', 6 August 1892, accessed 20 November 2009</ref> Among other roles, she appeared for Edwardes in his hit musical comedy ''The Gaiety Girl'' (1893) and created the part of Jane in the next hit ''An Artist's Model'', where she later took over the role of Madame Amélie (1895). She was next engaged at the Vaudeville Theatre in an English adaptation of the farce ''L'Hôtel du libre échange'' called ''A Night Out''. By August 1896 she had been promoted to the leading role of Mme Pinglet.<ref name=Ganzlblog/> In 1898, she appeared as the scheming servant-girl Durnford in ''The Dove-Cot'' (an adaptation of ''Jalouse'') at the Duke of York's Theatre, together with Leonora Braham and starring Seymour Hicks.<ref>Adams, William Davenport. [https://archive.org/details/adictionarydram01adamgoog/page/n428 <!-- pg=420 --> "A Dictionary of the drama"], vol. 1, p. 420, Chatto & Windus, 1904</ref> Subsequently, for Horace Lingard, she played Mrs Smith in ''Why Smith Left Home'', a French comedy, and toured for Edwardes in ''A Night Out''.<ref name=Ganzlblog/>
In the 1901 census she was listed as an "actress and masseuse".<ref name=Ganzlblog/> Her acting appearances became fewer in the new century. She was Miss Deare, the postmistress, in a musical comedy, ''Three Little Maids'', in 1902. In 1904, she played Denise in ''Véronique'', at the Apollo Theatre, together with some of her old Savoy colleagues.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KAcIAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Sybil+Grey%22+theatre&pg=PA430 "Momus at the Apollo"], ''Punch'', 15 June 1904, vol. 126, p. 430</ref> Her last role may have been as Miao-Yao and Poo–See in ''See-See'' in 1906 and in tours of that musical thereafter.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IVMZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA98 Advertisement with photo of Grey as Miao-Yao]</ref> In March 1930 Grey participated with Bond and Braham in a Gilbert and Sullivan Society reunion of the original "Three Little Maids from School".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Robin|author2=Frederic Lloyd |year=1984|title=Gilbert & Sullivan – The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History|url=https://archive.org/details/gilbertsullivano00wils|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/gilbertsullivano00wils/page/39 39]|location=New York|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf, Inc|isbn=9780394541136 }}</ref> In her last years, she lived in Dulwich.<ref name=Ganzlblog/>
She died at the age of 79 in a nursing home in Forest Hill in 1939.<ref name=Ganzlblog/> Grey is portrayed in the 1999 film ''Topsy-Turvy'' by Cathy Sara.<ref>Shepherd, Marc. [http://www.concentric.net/~Oakapple/gasdisc/mdtopsy.htm ''Topsy-Turvy''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221232525/http://www.concentric.net/~Oakapple/gasdisc/mdtopsy.htm |date=21 February 2009 }} at ''A Gilbert & Sullivan Discography'', accessed 20 November 2009</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/s-grey-p.html A Sybil Grey Photo Album]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Sybil}} Category:1860 births Category:1939 deaths Category:19th-century British women opera singers Category:British stage actresses Category:Singers from the City of Westminster Category:Actresses from London Category:19th-century British actresses Category:20th-century British women singers Category:20th-century British actresses Category:People from Mayfair Category:Actors from the City of Westminster