Marie Tempest
Encyclopedia
Dame Marie Tempest DBE (15 July 1864 – 15 October 1942) was an English
singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".
Tempest became the most famous soprano
in late Victorian
light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere. She was, at times, her own theatre manager during a career spanning 55 years. Tempest was also instrumental in the founding of the actors' union Equity in England.
convent in Thildonck, Belgium. Later, she studied music in Paris, France and at the Royal Academy of Music
in London, as a singing pupil of Manuel García
, the tutor of Jenny Lind
. She adopted as her stage name part of the name of Lady Susan Vane-Tempest, whom she referred to as her godmother. Tempest had a sister named Florence Etherington who married theatre manager Michael Levenston.
Tempest married Alfred Edward Izard, another student at the Academy, in 1885. That marriage ended in divorce four years later, but the couple had a son in 1888 named Norman, who would later be referred to in the press as "Norman Lennox", taking the surname of Tempest's second husband.
by Edward Jakobowski
. She starred steadily in London for the next two years in light operas by Hervé
and André Messager
, among others. She became internationally famous for her performance in the title role in Dorothy
by Alfred Cellier
and B. C. Stephenson
(1887), which ran for a record-setting 931 performances (becoming a hit after Tempest took over the title role from Marion Hood
). Her marriage was damaged by rumours of an affair with her producer, but the same rumours only enhanced her appeal to her audiences. Richard D'Oyly Carte
considered engaging her for his opera company
but W. S. Gilbert
(after seeing her in Dorothy) reported that she "screeched", and the proposal was dropped.
In 1889, Tempest starred in Cellier and Stephenson's Doris
. The next year, in 1890, Tempest created the role of Kitty Carol in The Red Hussar
in London and then in New York City
. She then toured the United States and Canada for a year with the J. C. Duff Comic Opera Company in such operettas as Carmen
, Manon
, Mignon
, The Bohemian Girl
, and The Pirates of Penzance
. She returned to Broadway for the next three years in numerous productions including The Tyrolean, The Fencing Master by DeKoven and Smith, and The Algerian. During this period she was considered one of the few rivals of Lillian Russell
. An American critic wrote in 1894, "Miss Tempest combines a voice of extraordinary pitch and sweetness with the dramatic fervor of an emotional actress to a greater degree probably than any other prima donna now upon the English speaking stage".
In 1895, George Edwardes
bought her back to London to star in his Daly's Theatre
productions, beginning with Adele in An Artist's Model
, which ran for over 400 performances. This was followed by title roles in the even more successful The Geisha
(1896), which ran for 760 performances, A Greek Slave
(1898) and another international hit, San Toy
(1899). Tempest was a difficult star, and her arguments with Edwardes and some of her colleagues were well known. She felt that Edwardes was too strict and finally left San Toy in 1900, reportedly over a quarrel concerning her costume.
's English Nell (based on Simon Dale) at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, followed at the same theatre in 1901 by the title roles in Peg Woffington by Charles Reade
and Becky Sharp, an adaptation of Vanity Fair, by Robert Hichens and her husband. The same year, she played Polly Eccles in T. W. Robertson's Caste, followed in 1902 by the title role in The Marriage of Kitty, also written by Stuart. These established her as a leading comedy actress, particularly when playing the type of vivacious lady in drawing room comedies that TIME magazine called "a Marie Tempest part... a sprightly, well-bred matron, with a feline manner and a sharp tongue but a heart of gold." Max Beerbohm
described her as "one of the very few English actresses equipped for emotion".
After many more such roles at the Duke of York's Theatre
and the Comedy Theatre, Tempest toured in America in 1904, reprising her role in The Marriage of Kitty and in the title role of The Freedom of Suzanne. She appeared in London in 1907 in The Truth at the Comedy Theatre, written and directed by and starring Dion Boucicault
, though "it is the acting of Miss Tempest that people will go to see," said The Observer
, "and they will not be disappointed". She also starred in Alfred Sutro
's The Barrier in 1907. In 1908 Somerset Maugham's Mrs. Dot provided her with arguably her finest role, followed by parts in All-of-a-Sudden Peggy and Penelope. She returned to America in 1909 for a two-year tour, and appearing in such plays as Caste, Vanity Fair, .
Returning to England in 1911, Tempest joined a star-studded cast for Herbert Beerbohm Tree
's production of The Critic
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
, also starring Arthur Bourchier
, C. Hayden Coffin
, Lily Elsie
, George Grossmith, Jr.
, Charles Hawtrey, Cyril Maude
, Gerald Du Maurier
, Gertie Millar
, Edmund Payne
, Courtice Pounds
, Violet Vanbrugh
and Arthur Williams
, among others. She then began to manage the theatres in which she starred. She leased The Duke of York's Theatre and produced a revival of The Marriage of Kitty. She starred in her own productions in London theatres for the next few years. This followed in 1913 by the revival of London Assurance, given in aid of the King George's Actors Pension Fund. She spent eight years, beginning in 1914, touring in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, China, Japan and the Philippines. One of her roles, in 1915, was the title role in J. M. Barrie
's Rosalind. Barrie admired Tempest's ability to both laugh and cry, writing, "such a masterpiece at letting these two melt one into the other, not only upon her own face, but on the faces of all those in front".
Tempest finally returned to England via America in 1922, reviving The Marriage of Kitty. Tempest's second husband had died in 1921, and she married again that same year, this time in Sydney, Australia to the actor William Graham Browne
, who had accompanied her throughout her tour, and who regularly partnered her onstage in her subsequent West End
appearances. By the 1920s, Tempest had outgrown her troublesome temperament and moved into playing charming and elegant middle-aged women. In 1924 she took a singing part again in Clifford Bax
's Midsummer Madness at the Lyric Theatre
. She created the role of Judith Bliss in Noël Coward
's Hay Fever
(1925), in which she was followed in later revivals by leading actresses from Edith Evans
to Judi Dench
. Her popularity continued in such shows as Passing Brompton Road by Jevan Brandon-Thomas and The Cat's Cradle by Aimee and Philip Stuart. She also had one more singing role in 1927 in The Marquise, written for her by Coward. ("It is a dried and brittle little piece, but it frames the great actress adequately".) She then starred as Olivia in Mr. Pim Passes By by A. A. Milne
(1928), The First Mrs Fraser by St. John Ervine (1929, giving 632 performances at the Haymarket Theatre
), and Fanny Cavendish in Theatre Royal (1934).
In later years, Tempest became active in working for the good of the members of her profession. In 1934, she was instrumental in the founding of the actors' union Equity, when she hosted a dinner at the Savoy Hotel
for 85 leading entertainers. On 28 May 1935, Tempest's golden jubilee was celebrated with a benefit performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
attended by King George V
and Queen Mary
. The programme has tributes from among others, J. M. Barrie
, Noël Coward, Edward German
and Somerset Maugham. Tempest appeared in one act each from The Marriage of Kitty and Little Catherine, two of her most popular roles. The proceeds of £5,000 from the event were donated to St. George's Hospital for use by members of the theatrical profession.
Coward wrote the following to Hector Bolitho
, her biographer: "she wastes no time on personal inhibitions or inferiority complexes. In fact, she takes off her coat and gets down to the job of the moment with less shi-shi than any actress I have ever met.... Despite the fact that for fifty years she has performed a multitude of plays to multitudes of people, she has always contrived to remain the mistress of her tradition rather than allow any tradition to become the mistress of her."
She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(DBE) in 1937, the same year in which her third husband, Graham Browne, died. The next year, she created the role of Dora Randolph in Dodie Smith
's play Dear Octopus. She continued to act after this, though with less frequency. She toured Great Britain in The First Mrs. Fraser with A. E. Matthews
and Barry Morse
in 1941, a year before her death. That same year, Tempest's home was bombed in London during the Blitz
, and she lost most of her possessions. She remarked, "Hitler has taken nearly everything from me but my life, but you can't live on regret".
She died in London in 1942 at the age of 78, and she was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium
. A blue plaque
was placed at the site of her home at 24 Park Crescent in London.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
singer and actress known as the "queen of her profession".
Tempest became the most famous soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
in late Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
light opera and Edwardian musical comedies. Later, she became a leading comic actress and toured widely in North America and elsewhere. She was, at times, her own theatre manager during a career spanning 55 years. Tempest was also instrumental in the founding of the actors' union Equity in England.
Life and career
Tempest was born Mary Susan Etherington in London. Her parents were Edwin Etherington (1838–1880), a stationer, and Sarah Mary Castle Etherington. Tempest was educated at Midhurst School and an UrsulineUrsulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
convent in Thildonck, Belgium. Later, she studied music in Paris, France and at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London, as a singing pupil of Manuel García
Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García
Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García , was a Spanish singer, music educator, and vocal pedagogue.-Biography:García was born on 17 March 1805 in the town of Zafra in Badajoz Province, Spain. His father was singer and teacher Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García...
, the tutor of Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
. She adopted as her stage name part of the name of Lady Susan Vane-Tempest, whom she referred to as her godmother. Tempest had a sister named Florence Etherington who married theatre manager Michael Levenston.
Tempest married Alfred Edward Izard, another student at the Academy, in 1885. That marriage ended in divorce four years later, but the couple had a son in 1888 named Norman, who would later be referred to in the press as "Norman Lennox", taking the surname of Tempest's second husband.
Early career
Tempest debuted in 1885 as Fiametta in Franz Suppé's operetta Boccaccio at the Comedy Theatre in London, where she also took the title role in ErminieErminie
Erminie is a comic opera in two acts composed by Edward Jakobowski with a libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton, based loosely on Charles Selby's 1834 Robert Macaire...
by Edward Jakobowski
Edward Jakobowski
Edward Jakobowski was an English composer best known for writing the comic opera Erminie. Jakobowski was a significant figure on the London musical stage during the last two decades of the 19th Century. He did not challenge Sullivan, nor quite equal Fred Clay or Alfred Cellier but his gift of...
. She starred steadily in London for the next two years in light operas by Hervé
Hervé (composer)
Hervé , real name Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger, was a French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, whom Ernest Newman, following Reynaldo Hahn, credited with inventing the genre of operetta in Paris.-Life:Hervé was born in Houdain near Arras...
and André Messager
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...
, among others. She became internationally famous for her performance in the title role in Dorothy
Dorothy (opera)
Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. The story involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée.It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London on in 1886...
by Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
and B. C. Stephenson
B. C. Stephenson
Benjamin Charles Stephenson or B. C. Stephenson was an English dramatist, lyricist and librettist. After beginning a career in the civil service, he started to write for the theatre, using the pen name "Bolton Rowe". He was author or co-author of several long-running shows of the Victorian theatre...
(1887), which ran for a record-setting 931 performances (becoming a hit after Tempest took over the title role from Marion Hood
Marion Hood
Marion Hood was an English soprano who performed in opera and musical theatre in the last decades of the 19th century...
). Her marriage was damaged by rumours of an affair with her producer, but the same rumours only enhanced her appeal to her audiences. Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
considered engaging her for his opera company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
but W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
(after seeing her in Dorothy) reported that she "screeched", and the proposal was dropped.
Doris (opera)
Doris is a "comedy opera" in three acts by Alfred Cellier, with a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. After the phenomenal success of Cellier and Stephenson's Dorothy , the pair were hoping for another big hit. Doris turned out to be only modestly successful.It opened at the Lyric Theatre in London on...
. The next year, in 1890, Tempest created the role of Kitty Carol in The Red Hussar
The Red Hussar
The Red Hussar is a comedy opera in three acts by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens, which opened at the Lyric Theatre in London on 23 November 1889, running for 175 performances. It was the revised version of an opera written several years earlier called The White Sergeant...
in London and then in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She then toured the United States and Canada for a year with the J. C. Duff Comic Opera Company in such operettas as Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, Mignon
Mignon
Mignon is an opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead,...
, The Bohemian Girl
The Bohemian Girl
The Bohemian Girl is an opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Cervantes tale, La Gitanilla.The opera was first produced in London at the Drury Lane Theatre on November 27, 1843...
, and The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
. She returned to Broadway for the next three years in numerous productions including The Tyrolean, The Fencing Master by DeKoven and Smith, and The Algerian. During this period she was considered one of the few rivals of Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago...
. An American critic wrote in 1894, "Miss Tempest combines a voice of extraordinary pitch and sweetness with the dramatic fervor of an emotional actress to a greater degree probably than any other prima donna now upon the English speaking stage".
In 1895, George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
bought her back to London to star in his Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
productions, beginning with Adele in An Artist's Model
An Artist's Model
An Artist's Model is a two-act musical by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and music by Sidney Jones, with additional songs by Joseph and Mary Watson, Paul Lincke, Frederick Ross, Henry Hamilton and Leopold Wenzel. It opened at Daly's Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes and...
, which ran for over 400 performances. This was followed by title roles in the even more successful The Geisha
The Geisha
The Geisha, a story of a tea house is an Edwardian Musical Comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and James Philip....
(1896), which ran for 760 performances, A Greek Slave
A Greek Slave
A Greek Slave is a musical comedy in two acts, first performed on 8 June 1898 at Daly's Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes and ran for 349 performances. The score was composed by Sidney Jones with additional songs by Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross. The...
(1898) and another international hit, San Toy
San Toy
San Toy, or The Emperor's Own is a "Chinese" musical comedy in two acts, first performed at Daly's Theatre, London, on 21 October 1899, and ran for 768 performances...
(1899). Tempest was a difficult star, and her arguments with Edwardes and some of her colleagues were well known. She felt that Edwardes was too strict and finally left San Toy in 1900, reportedly over a quarrel concerning her costume.
1899 through World War I years
By 1899, Tempest had married again, to the actor-playwright Cosmo Stuart (Cosmo Charles Gordon-Lennox), the son of Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox. On his advice, Tempest forsook operettas for straight comedy. In 1900 she created the role of Nell Gwynne in Anthony HopeAnthony Hope
Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope , was an English novelist and playwright. Although he was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels, he is remembered best for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau...
's English Nell (based on Simon Dale) at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, followed at the same theatre in 1901 by the title roles in Peg Woffington by Charles Reade
Charles Reade
Charles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
and Becky Sharp, an adaptation of Vanity Fair, by Robert Hichens and her husband. The same year, she played Polly Eccles in T. W. Robertson's Caste, followed in 1902 by the title role in The Marriage of Kitty, also written by Stuart. These established her as a leading comedy actress, particularly when playing the type of vivacious lady in drawing room comedies that TIME magazine called "a Marie Tempest part... a sprightly, well-bred matron, with a feline manner and a sharp tongue but a heart of gold." Max Beerbohm
Max Beerbohm
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.-Early life:...
described her as "one of the very few English actresses equipped for emotion".
After many more such roles at the Duke of York's Theatre
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End Theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre, until her death in 1935. It opened on 10 September 1892 as the Trafalgar Square Theatre, with Wedding...
and the Comedy Theatre, Tempest toured in America in 1904, reprising her role in The Marriage of Kitty and in the title role of The Freedom of Suzanne. She appeared in London in 1907 in The Truth at the Comedy Theatre, written and directed by and starring Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
, though "it is the acting of Miss Tempest that people will go to see," said The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, "and they will not be disappointed". She also starred in Alfred Sutro
Alfred Sutro
Alfred Sutro OBE was a British author and dramatist.He was a translator and friend of Maeterlinck. Educated at the City of London School and in Brussels, he began his career with a series of translations of Maeterlinck's works, all of which except the dramas he translated from the French...
's The Barrier in 1907. In 1908 Somerset Maugham's Mrs. Dot provided her with arguably her finest role, followed by parts in All-of-a-Sudden Peggy and Penelope. She returned to America in 1909 for a two-year tour, and appearing in such plays as Caste, Vanity Fair, .
Returning to England in 1911, Tempest joined a star-studded cast for Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
's production of The Critic
The Critic (play)
The Critic: or, a Tragedy Rehearsed is a satire by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first staged at Drury Lane Theatre in 1779. It is a burlesque on stage acting and play production conventions, and Sheridan considered the first act to be his finest piece of writing...
by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
, also starring Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier was an English actor and theatre manager. He married and later divorced the actress Violet Vanbrugh....
, C. Hayden Coffin
C. Hayden Coffin
Charles Hayden Coffin was an English actor and singer known for his performances in many famous Edwardian musical comedies, particularly those produced by George Edwardes....
, Lily Elsie
Lily Elsie
Lily Elsie was a popular English actress and singer during the Edwardian era, best known for her starring role in the hit London premiere of Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow....
, George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
, Charles Hawtrey, Cyril Maude
Cyril Maude
Cyril Francis Maude was an English actor-manager.-Biography:Maude was born in London and educated at the Charterhouse School. In 1881, he was sent to Adelaide, South Australia, on the clipper ship City of Adelaide to regain his health...
, Gerald Du Maurier
Gerald du Maurier
Sir Gerald Hubert Edward Busson du Maurier was an English actor and manager. He was the son of the writer George du Maurier and brother of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. In 1902, he married the actress Muriel Beaumont with whom he had three daughters: Angela du Maurier , Daphne du Maurier and Jeanne...
, Gertie Millar
Gertie Millar
Gertrude "Gertie" Millar was one of the most famous English singer-actresses of the early 20th century, known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies....
, Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne , was an actor, comedian, singer and dramatist best known for his comic appearances in Edwardian Musical Comedy. His father was Edmund Payne, a master cabinet builder and his mother was Eliza Payne née Ince....
, Courtice Pounds
Courtice Pounds
Charles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member...
, Violet Vanbrugh
Violet Vanbrugh
Violet Vanbrugh was an English actress who had a career spanning more than 50 years. Despite her many successes, her career was overshadowed by that of her more famous sister Irene Vanbrugh...
and Arthur Williams
Arthur Williams
Arthur or Art Williams may refer to:*Arthur Williams , actor*Arthur Williams , Anglican colonial bishop*Arthur Williams , American boxer*Arthur Williams...
, among others. She then began to manage the theatres in which she starred. She leased The Duke of York's Theatre and produced a revival of The Marriage of Kitty. She starred in her own productions in London theatres for the next few years. This followed in 1913 by the revival of London Assurance, given in aid of the King George's Actors Pension Fund. She spent eight years, beginning in 1914, touring in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Singapore, China, Japan and the Philippines. One of her roles, in 1915, was the title role in J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's Rosalind. Barrie admired Tempest's ability to both laugh and cry, writing, "such a masterpiece at letting these two melt one into the other, not only upon her own face, but on the faces of all those in front".
Later years
W. Graham Brown
W. Graham Brown was an Irish actor who appeared on Broadway and in films during the early 20th century.- Biography :William Graham Brown was born in Ireland on January 1, 1870. He appeared on Broadway and in films during the early 20th century...
, who had accompanied her throughout her tour, and who regularly partnered her onstage in her subsequent West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
appearances. By the 1920s, Tempest had outgrown her troublesome temperament and moved into playing charming and elegant middle-aged women. In 1924 she took a singing part again in Clifford Bax
Clifford Bax
Clifford Bax was a versatile English writer, known particularly as a playwright, a journalist, critic and editor, and a poet, lyricist and hymn writer. He also was a translator, for example of Goldoni...
's Midsummer Madness at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
. She created the role of Judith Bliss in Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Hay Fever
Hay Fever
Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...
(1925), in which she was followed in later revivals by leading actresses from Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
to Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
. Her popularity continued in such shows as Passing Brompton Road by Jevan Brandon-Thomas and The Cat's Cradle by Aimee and Philip Stuart. She also had one more singing role in 1927 in The Marquise, written for her by Coward. ("It is a dried and brittle little piece, but it frames the great actress adequately".) She then starred as Olivia in Mr. Pim Passes By by A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Biography:A. A...
(1928), The First Mrs Fraser by St. John Ervine (1929, giving 632 performances at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
), and Fanny Cavendish in Theatre Royal (1934).
In later years, Tempest became active in working for the good of the members of her profession. In 1934, she was instrumental in the founding of the actors' union Equity, when she hosted a dinner at the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
for 85 leading entertainers. On 28 May 1935, Tempest's golden jubilee was celebrated with a benefit performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
attended by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
. The programme has tributes from among others, J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, Noël Coward, Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
and Somerset Maugham. Tempest appeared in one act each from The Marriage of Kitty and Little Catherine, two of her most popular roles. The proceeds of £5,000 from the event were donated to St. George's Hospital for use by members of the theatrical profession.
Coward wrote the following to Hector Bolitho
Hector Bolitho
Hector Bolitho was a prolific author, novelist and biographer. In total, he had 59 books published.-Biography:...
, her biographer: "she wastes no time on personal inhibitions or inferiority complexes. In fact, she takes off her coat and gets down to the job of the moment with less shi-shi than any actress I have ever met.... Despite the fact that for fifty years she has performed a multitude of plays to multitudes of people, she has always contrived to remain the mistress of her tradition rather than allow any tradition to become the mistress of her."
She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(DBE) in 1937, the same year in which her third husband, Graham Browne, died. The next year, she created the role of Dora Randolph in Dodie Smith
Dodie Smith
Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith was an English novelist and playwright. Smith is best known for her novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. Her other works include I Capture the Castle and The Starlight Barking....
's play Dear Octopus. She continued to act after this, though with less frequency. She toured Great Britain in The First Mrs. Fraser with A. E. Matthews
A. E. Matthews
A.E. Matthews OBE was an English actor who played numerous character roles on the stage and in film for eight decades, and who became known for his longevity.-Biography:...
and Barry Morse
Barry Morse
Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
in 1941, a year before her death. That same year, Tempest's home was bombed in London during the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, and she lost most of her possessions. She remarked, "Hitler has taken nearly everything from me but my life, but you can't live on regret".
She died in London in 1942 at the age of 78, and she was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....
. A blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
was placed at the site of her home at 24 Park Crescent in London.
Filmography
- 1900 - San Toy in San Toy
- 1915 - Mrs. Plum in Mrs. Plum's Pudding
- 1937 - Baroness Lindenborg in Moonlight Sonata
- 1938 - Jennifer Varwell in Yellow Sands
External links
- Information about productions starring Marie Tempest listed in the Theatre Collection, University of Bistol
- Photos of Tempest at the NPG library
- Marie Tempest photo gallery, NYP Library
- An amusing anecote about Tempest
- Tempest, Marie. "Thorns in the Flesh", The Lima Times-Democrat 23 November 1893, reprinted in In Press and Literature at the Stage Beauty website
- "Marie Tempest's Little Joke", The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
17 July 1892
