Ellen Terry
Artist: Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson (English, 1853-1937)
Date: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Dame Ellen Alice Terry (1847-1928), Actress.
Born in Coventry where her actor parents were on tour, Ellen Terry was one of eleven siblings and won fame as a child first appearing on stage in 1856 with Charles Kean. She married the painter G.F. Watts in 1864 but separated within a year. Terry had two children by the architect Edward Godwin, Edith Craig and Edward Gordon Craig. She returned to the stage in 1872 to establish herself as a leading Victorian actress with the Bancroft's and John Hare's company. Renown for her Shakespearean roles, she performed her most memorable parts under the management of Henry Irving as leading lady of Henry Irving's London theatre company from 1878-1902. Her work allowed her to undertake provincial tours and she toured America seven times. In later life she continued to act but also produced plays, lectured and wrote.