Fred Terry
Encyclopedia
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
. After establishing his reputation in London and in the provinces for a decade, he joined the company of 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...
where he remained for four years, meeting his future wife, Julia Neilson
Julia Neilson
Julia Neilson was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of Rosalind in a long-running production of As You Like It.After establishing her reputation in a...
. With Neilson, he played in London and on tour for 27 further years, becoming famous in sword and cape roles, such as the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
.
Biography
Terry was born in London into a theatrical family. His parents, Benjamin (1818–1896) of Irish descent, and Sarah (née Ballard) (1819–1892), of Scottish ancestry, were comic actors in a touring company based in PortsmouthPortsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
(where Sarah's father was a Wesleyan minister) and had eleven children of which Fred was the youngest son. At least five of these became actors: Kate
Kate Terry
Kate Terry was an English actress. Elder sister of the famous Ellen Terry, she was born into a theatrical family, made her debut when still a child, became a leading lady in her own right, and left the stage in 1867 to marry. In retirement she commented that she was 20 years on the stage, yet...
, Ellen
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, Marion
Ellen Terry
Dame Ellen Terry, GBE was an English stage actress who became the leading Shakespearean actress in Britain. Among the members of her famous family is her great nephew, John Gielgud....
, Florence and Fred. Two other children, George and Charles, were connected with theatre management.
Terry's sister Kate was a very successful actress until her marriage and retirement from the stage in 1867, and his sister Ellen became the greatest Shakespearean actress of her time. His great nephew (Kate's grandson), Sir John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, became one of the twentieth century's most respected actors. Terry was educated in London, France and Switzerland.
Early career
During his career, Terry toured extensively, playing in all the principal cities of the United Kingdom and North America. His first stage appearance was at the Haymarket TheatreHaymarket 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...
in 1880 at the age of 16, in a revival of Bulwer-Lytton
Bulwer-Lytton
Bulwer-Lytton is a surname, and may refer to:* Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton , novelist and politician* Rosina Bulwer Lytton , feminist writer and wife of Edward Bulwer-Lytton...
's Money, with the Bancrofts
Squire Bancroft
Sir Squire Bancroft , born Squire White Butterfield, was an English actor-manager. He and his wife Effie Bancroft are considered to have instigated a new form of drama known as 'drawing-room comedy' or 'cup and saucer drama', owing to the realism of their stage sets.-Early life and career:Bancroft...
. After appearances on tour, he was engaged at the Lyceum Theatre in 1884 in Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
's production of Twelfth Night, as Sebastian to the Viola of his sister Ellen. In her memoirs, his sister Ellen wrote, "I don't think that I have ever seen any success so unmistakable and instantaneous." He then returned to touring, in Britain and the U.S. Back in London by the summer of 1887, he had a success at the Avenue Theatre
Playhouse Theatre
The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery...
, as Dr William Brown in Dr Bill, by Hamilton Aidé, in 1890. He joined the company of 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...
at the Haymarket Theatre, appearing in numerous productions with the company from 1890 to 1894. His roles there included D'Aulnay in 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...
's Comedy and Tragedy (1890) and John Christison in Henry Arthur Jones
Henry Arthur Jones
Henry Arthur Jones was an English dramatist.-Biography:Jones was born at Granborough, Buckinghamshire to Silvanus Jones, a farmer. He began to earn his living early, his spare time being given to literary pursuits...
's The Dancing Girl (1891). In the cast of this last, he met Julia Neilson
Julia Neilson
Julia Neilson was an English actress best known for her numerous performances as Lady Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, for her roles in many tragedies and historical romances, and for her portrayal of Rosalind in a long-running production of As You Like It.After establishing her reputation in a...
, daughter of Alexander Ritchie Neilson, whom he married later that year. For Tree, he also played Laertes in Hamlet and appeared in Sydney Grundy
Sydney Grundy
Sydney Grundy was an English dramatist. Most of his works were adaptations of European plays, and many became successful enough to tour throughout the English-speaking world...
's translation of the French play A Village Priest, Beau Austin and Peril. Terry and Neilson's daughter Phyllis
Phyllis Neilson-Terry
Phyllis Neilson-Terry was an English actress. She was born in London, daughter of Julia Neilson and Fred Terry; her younger brother was actor Dennis Neilson-Terry. She made her first stage appearance in Henry of Navarre , and played Viola in Twelfth Night at the Haymarket in 1910...
was born in 1892.
In 1894, Terry and Neilson appeared together in Shall We Forgive Her? by Frank Harvey at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
. Their second child, Dennis, was born in October 1895. Two months later, the family travelled to America to perform with John Hare
John Hare (actor)
Sir John Hare , born John Fairs, was an English actor and manager of the Garrick Theatre in London from 1889 to 1895.-Biography:Hare was born in Giggleswick in Yorkshire and was educated at Giggleswick school...
's company. There they played together in New York in The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith by Arthur Wing Pinero
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
. In 1896, they returned to England, where he played at the Lyceum as Charles Surface in a revival of 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...
's The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
with Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Johnston Forbes-Robertson
Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson was an English actor and theatre manager. He was considered the finest Hamlet of the nineteenth century and one of the finest actors of his time, despite his dislike of the job and his lifelong belief that he was temperamentally unsuited to acting.-Early life:Born in...
. Terry and his wife appeared together in The Tree of Knowledge and other plays from October 1897 until the summer of 1898, including Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
at the St James's Theatre
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was a 1,200-seat theatre located in King Street, at Duke Street, St James's, London. The elaborate theatre was designed with a neo-classical exterior and a Louis XIV style interior by Samuel Beazley and built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell for the tenor and theatre...
, in which he played Don Pedro. Next, they appeared in The Gipsy Earl. He was Squire Thornhill in William Gorman Wills
William Gorman Wills
William Gorman Wills , was an Irish dramatist and painter.-Biography:The son of James Wills , author of Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, William was born in Dublin and educated at Waterford Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin.After publishing his novel Old Times in an Irish...
's Olivia at the Lyceum in 1900. They then toured in As You Like It.
Later years
In 1900, with his wife, he assumed the management of the Haymarket TheatreHaymarket 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...
. For the next 27 years, Terry and Neilson played together, mainly in popular romantic historical dramas, with Terry in swasbucking roles. At the Haymarket, he was particularly known for his role of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in the play Sweet Nell of Old Drury by Paul Kester
Paul Kester
Paul Kester was a U.S. playwright.He was the younger brother of Vaughan Kester and a cousin of William Dean Howells....
, which became one of his signature roles. They toured extensively in the British provinces, but they had annual six-month London seasons at the New Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by...
from 1905 to 1913. During these they premiered several new plays in London, including Baroness Orczy
Baroness Orczy
Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála "Emmuska" Orczy de Orczi was a British novelist, playwright and artist of Hungarian noble origin. She was most notable for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel...
's The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
, which they adapted for the stage with J. M. Barstow (1905), with Terry creating his other signature part of Sir Percy Blakeney. Despite scathing reviews from the critics, the play was a record-breaking hit and played for more than 2000 performances, then enjoying numerous revivals.
Terry and Neilson also introduced and starred with much success in For Sword or Song by Robert Legge and Louis Calvert
Louis Calvert
Louis James Calvert was a British stage and early film actor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and an actor-manager...
(1903), Dorothy o' the Hall by Paul Kester
Paul Kester
Paul Kester was a U.S. playwright.He was the younger brother of Vaughan Kester and a cousin of William Dean Howells....
and Charles Major
Charles Major
Charles Major was an American lawyer and novelist.Born to an upper-middle class Indianapolis family, Major developed an interest in both law and English history at an early age and attended the University of Michigan from 1872 through 1875, being admitted to the Indiana bar association in 1877...
(1906), and Henry of Navarre (1909) by William Devereux. Henry and Sweet Nell became their signature pieces during many tours of the British provinces and during their U.S. tour in 1910. They also produced The Popinjay by Boyle Lawrence, Frederick Mouillot (1911), and Mistress Wilful by Ernest Hendrie (1915). In 1915, Terry and Neilson took over the management of the Strand Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
, reviving and starring in Sweet Nell of Old Drury. Their later productions included The Borderer (1921), The Marlboroughs (1924), and The Wooing of Katherine Parr by William Devereux (1926). They also starred in A Wreath of a Hundred Roses (1922), which was a masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
by Louis N. Parker at the Duke's Hall to celebrate the Royal Academy's centenary. Terry was also well known on tour for his Benedick in Much Ado and his Charles Surface.
The couple's son Dennis became an actor, whose career was cut short by his death in 1932, and their daughter Phyllis Neilson-Terry
Phyllis Neilson-Terry
Phyllis Neilson-Terry was an English actress. She was born in London, daughter of Julia Neilson and Fred Terry; her younger brother was actor Dennis Neilson-Terry. She made her first stage appearance in Henry of Navarre , and played Viola in Twelfth Night at the Haymarket in 1910...
became a noted actress. In 1918, a group British theatre managers from 60 of the theatres that he had played in presented to Terry a portrait, painted by Frank Daniell, of Terry as Sir Percy Blakeney. Terry retired from the stage in 1927.
He died at his home in St Pancras, London, in 1933 at the age of 69.