Lottie Lyell
Encyclopedia
Lottie Lyell was an Australian actress, screenwriter
, editor
and filmmaker born in Balmain, Sydney
in 1890. She is regarded as Australia’s first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the silent era with her collaborations with Raymond Longford
.
and New Zealand
. After visiting 85 towns, the tour ended when a flood held up the production in Murtoa, Victoria
. Lyell’s later theatre successes continued when she joined the Clark and Meynell Company.
(1911) transformed her into Australia’s first international film star. The British magazine Punch wrote of the film, “This big film is the best that has been made in Australia”.
By 1912, Lyell had become romantically involved with Longford. The couple lived together in Brisbane
and formed the most influential and pioneering partnerships in Australian film history. Although Longford was separated, his Catholic
wife would not divorce him and he was never able to marry Lyell. In 1913 Lyell starred in ‘Neath Austral Skies as Eileen Delmont. Notably in this role she performed her own stunts, which included riding a horse with a knife between her teeth and diving into the sea. Another Longford/Lyell film made in 1913, Australia Calls, contained some ‘special effects’ such as cardboard planes flying down wires, annihilating some Sydney landmarks.
Although Longford offered to film battlefronts during the Great War from 1914 until 1918, the Australian Government declined his offer. Longford and Lyell would never made a war related feature during the First World War.
In 1919, Lyell portrayed Doreen in The Sentimental Bloke
, which is now regarded as the landmark piece of the Longford/Lyell collaborations. Lyell is believed to have also contributed to the screenplay, art direction, editing and production. In 1921, Lyell wrote, edited and co-directed The Blue Mountains Mystery
to much critical acclaim. Longford and Lyell formed Longford-Lyell Australian Motion Picture Productions in 1922. Lyell also returned to acting in 1922 with Rudd’s New Selection.
Lyell fell ill with tuberculosis
and died at her home in Roseville
, North Sydney
on 21 December 1925. Active until her death, two of her screenplays were developed into films the following year, Peter Vernon’s Silence and The Pioneers.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, editor
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
and filmmaker born in Balmain, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1890. She is regarded as Australia’s first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the silent era with her collaborations with Raymond Longford
Raymond Longford
Raymond Longford was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian cinema. He formed a production team with Lottie Lyell...
.
Career
Charlotte Cox pursued acting at seventeen. She undertook the stage name of Lottie Lyell, and at aged twenty she had her theatre breakthrough in 1910, when she performed as Maggie Brown in An Englishman’s Home. The travelling theatre company took Lyell on tour for the show and she performed across Australia, including TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. After visiting 85 towns, the tour ended when a flood held up the production in Murtoa, Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. Lyell’s later theatre successes continued when she joined the Clark and Meynell Company.
Longford-Lyell Productions
The following year, Lyell exchanged live theatre for a new, modern medium - film. She debuted in Alfred Rolfe’s Captain Midnight, The Bush King and by late 1911 her lead role in Raymond Longford’s The Romantic Story of Margaret CatchpoleThe Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole
The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an adventuress and convict.-External links:...
(1911) transformed her into Australia’s first international film star. The British magazine Punch wrote of the film, “This big film is the best that has been made in Australia”.
By 1912, Lyell had become romantically involved with Longford. The couple lived together in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and formed the most influential and pioneering partnerships in Australian film history. Although Longford was separated, his Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
wife would not divorce him and he was never able to marry Lyell. In 1913 Lyell starred in ‘Neath Austral Skies as Eileen Delmont. Notably in this role she performed her own stunts, which included riding a horse with a knife between her teeth and diving into the sea. Another Longford/Lyell film made in 1913, Australia Calls, contained some ‘special effects’ such as cardboard planes flying down wires, annihilating some Sydney landmarks.
Although Longford offered to film battlefronts during the Great War from 1914 until 1918, the Australian Government declined his offer. Longford and Lyell would never made a war related feature during the First World War.
In 1919, Lyell portrayed Doreen in The Sentimental Bloke
The Sentimental Bloke
The Sentimental Bloke is an Australian silent film based on the 1915 poem The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis.The film, from the Southern Cross Feature Film Company of Adelaide, was made by Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, at that time the best known partnership in Australian cinema...
, which is now regarded as the landmark piece of the Longford/Lyell collaborations. Lyell is believed to have also contributed to the screenplay, art direction, editing and production. In 1921, Lyell wrote, edited and co-directed The Blue Mountains Mystery
The Blue Mountains Mystery
The Blue Mountains Mystery is a lost 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and co-directed by Lottie Lyell. The film was derived from the 1919 novel The Mount Marunga Mystery by Harrison Owen. Although now lost, at the time of its release The Blue Mountains Mystery fared well in...
to much critical acclaim. Longford and Lyell formed Longford-Lyell Australian Motion Picture Productions in 1922. Lyell also returned to acting in 1922 with Rudd’s New Selection.
Lyell fell ill with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and died at her home in Roseville
Roseville, New South Wales
Roseville is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Roseville is located north-west of the Sydney central business district and sits across the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai and Willoughby...
, North Sydney
North Sydney, New South Wales
North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...
on 21 December 1925. Active until her death, two of her screenplays were developed into films the following year, Peter Vernon’s Silence and The Pioneers.
Actress
- Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911)
- Captain Starlight or Gentleman of the Road (1911)
- The Fatal WeddingThe Fatal WeddingThe Fatal Wedding is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on a popular American stage melodrama which he and Lottie Lyell had toured around Australia.-Synopsis:...
as Mabel Wilson (1911) - The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911)
- The Romantic Story of Margaret CatchpoleThe Romantic Story of Margaret CatchpoleThe Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an adventuress and convict.-External links:...
as Margaret Catchpole (1911) - The Tide of DeathThe Tide of DeathThe Tide of Death is a 1912 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford.- External links :* at National Film and Sound Archive...
as Sylvia Grey (1912) - The Midnight WeddingThe Midnight WeddingThe Midnight Wedding is a 1912 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive...
as Princess Astrea (1912) - Australia CallsAustralia Calls (1913 film)Australia Calls is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the fictitious invasion of Australia by an unnamed Asian country.-Synopsis:...
as Beatrice Evans (1913) - Pommy Arrives in AustraliaPommy Arrives in AustraliaPommy Arrives in Australia is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford....
or Pommy, the Funny Little New Chum (Australia) (1913) - 'Neath Austral Skies'Neath Austral Skies'Neath Austral Skies is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive...
as Eileen Delmont (1913) - Trooper Campbell (1914)
- The Swagman's Story (1914)
- Taking His Chance (1914)
- The Silence of Dean MaitlandThe Silence of Dean Maitland (1914 film)The Silence of Dean Maitland is a 1914 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. It is an adaptation of the novel by Maxwell Gray which was later filmed by Ken G. Hall in 1934....
as Marion, Henry's sister (1914) - We'll Take Her Children in Amongst Our Own (1915)
- Ma Hoggan's New Boarder (1915)
- A Maori Maid's LoveA Maori Maid's LoveA Maori Maid's Love is a 1916 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford about an interracial romance between a white man and a Māori girl. It was shot on location in Rotorua and Auckland.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive...
(1916) - The Mutiny of the BountyThe Mutiny of the BountyThe Mutiny of the Bounty is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the mutiny on the HMS Bounty. It was filmed in Rotorua and Sydney....
as Nessy Heywood (1916) - The Church and the WomanThe Church and the WomanThe Church and the Woman is a 1917 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford set against the background of sectarianism in Australia.-Cast:*Lottie Lyell*George K. Chesterton Bonar *Nada Conrade*Boyd Irwin*Lottie Lyell *Pat McGrath...
as Eileen Shannon (1917) - The Woman SuffersThe Woman SuffersThe Woman Suffers is a 1918 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. It is a melodrama starring Lottie Lyell.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive* at Australian Screen Online...
as Marjory Manton (1918) - The Sentimental BlokeThe Sentimental BlokeThe Sentimental Bloke is an Australian silent film based on the 1915 poem The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis.The film, from the Southern Cross Feature Film Company of Adelaide, was made by Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, at that time the best known partnership in Australian cinema...
as Doreen (1919) - Ginger MickGinger MickGinger Mick is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on The Moods of Ginger Mick by C.J. Dennis. It is a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke and is considered a lost film.-External links:...
reprising her role as Doreen (1920) - Rudd's New SelectionRudd's New SelectionRudd's New Selection is a 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. It is a sequel to On Our Selection . The plot concerns the marriage of Dave Rudd and introduces a sister, Nell .Although popular on release, the movie is now...
as Nell Garvin (1921) - The Dinkum BlokeThe Dinkum BlokeThe Dinkum Bloke is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. Despite the title and the presence of Arthur Tauchert and Lottie Lyell in the cast, the film is not a direct sequel to The Sentimental Bloke .-External links:...
reprising her role as Nell Garvin (1923)
Writer
- Australia CallsAustralia Calls (1913 film)Australia Calls is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the fictitious invasion of Australia by an unnamed Asian country.-Synopsis:...
(1913) - The Mutiny of the BountyThe Mutiny of the BountyThe Mutiny of the Bounty is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the mutiny on the HMS Bounty. It was filmed in Rotorua and Sydney....
(1916) - The Sentimental BlokeThe Sentimental BlokeThe Sentimental Bloke is an Australian silent film based on the 1915 poem The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis.The film, from the Southern Cross Feature Film Company of Adelaide, was made by Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, at that time the best known partnership in Australian cinema...
(1919) - On Our SelectionOn Our Selection (1920 film)On Our Selection is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd.-Production:...
(1920) - Ginger MickGinger MickGinger Mick is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on The Moods of Ginger Mick by C.J. Dennis. It is a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke and is considered a lost film.-External links:...
(1920) - Rudd's New SelectionRudd's New SelectionRudd's New Selection is a 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. It is a sequel to On Our Selection . The plot concerns the marriage of Dave Rudd and introduces a sister, Nell .Although popular on release, the movie is now...
(1921) - The Blue Mountains MysteryThe Blue Mountains MysteryThe Blue Mountains Mystery is a lost 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and co-directed by Lottie Lyell. The film was derived from the 1919 novel The Mount Marunga Mystery by Harrison Owen. Although now lost, at the time of its release The Blue Mountains Mystery fared well in...
(1921) - The Dinkum BlokeThe Dinkum BlokeThe Dinkum Bloke is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. Despite the title and the presence of Arthur Tauchert and Lottie Lyell in the cast, the film is not a direct sequel to The Sentimental Bloke .-External links:...
(1923) - Australia CallsAustralia Calls (1923 film)Australia Calls is a 1923 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford made for the British Empire Exhibition in London in 1924.It was a semi-documentary about the adventures of Ernest Idiens, a labourer from Staffordshire who moved to New South Wales with his brother in 1912 with only ₤30...
(1923) - The BushwhackersThe Bushwhackers (film)The Bushwhackers is a 1925 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford loosely based on Alfred Tennyson's Enoch Arden.-External links:* at National Film and Sound Archive...
(1925) - The Pioneers (1926)
- Sons of Australia, screened as Peter Vernon’s Silence (1926)
External links
- Lottie Lyell at Findagrave.com
- Lottie Lyell at Trove
- Lottie Lyell at Australian Dictionary of BiographyAustralian Dictionary of BiographyThe Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....