Violet Vanbrugh
Encyclopedia
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
. From 1893 to World War I, Vanbrugh found much success together with her actor-manager
husband Arthur Bourchier
, whom she divorced in 1918.
, England, the eldest of six children of the Rev Reginald Henry Barnes (1831–1889), Prebendary
of Exeter Cathedral
and Vicar of Heavitree
, and his wife, Frances Mary Emily née Nation. She was the elder sister of the actress Irene Vanbrugh
and the theatrical educator Kenneth Barnes
. She grew up in Exeter and was then educated in France and Germany.
, a family friend, suggested that she should adopt the stage name Vanbrugh. Violet's early success encouraged Irene to follow her into the profession, and she too took the stage surname Vanbrugh. Both sisters enrolled at Sarah Thorne
's school of acting, based at Margate
, which gave them a thorough practical grounding. Irene recalled, "We played every kind of play there; comedy, farce, and drama of the deepest dye; while at Christmas there came the pantomime, so that the Juliet of a week ago might be the Prince Paragon of the Yule-tide extravaganza." The sisters played together in As You Like It
at the Theatre Royal, Margate, with Violet in the lead role, Rosalind, and Irene in the smaller part of Phoebe. Sir John Gielgud
, a grand nephew of Ellen Terry, described the two:
Ellen Terry helped Violet Vanbrugh land her first professional acting role in an 1886 burlesque, by F. C. Burnand, Faust and Loose, at Toole's Theatre. The same year, she made her West End theatre
debut as Ellen in The Little Pilgrims. She then toured and also returned to Toole's, playing several roles until 1887 including Lady Anne in The Butler. Returning to Margate later that year, she appeared in Shakespeare's Hamlet
as Ophelia, in A Midsummer Night's Dream
as Helena, in As You Like It as Rosalind and in The Merchant of Venice
as Portia.
In London in 1888, she played Gertrude in the Deputy Registrar. In 1889 she joined the Kendals at the Royal Court Theatre
as Lady Gillingham in The Weaker Sex, and at the end of the year travelled with them to the U.S., where she played Lady Ingram in the comedy A Scrap of Paper and in dramas such as The Iron Master, Impulse and A White Lie and comedies such The Weaker Sex. Back in England in 1891, she joined Henry Irving
and Ellen Terry at the Lyceum Theatre as Anne Boleyn in his successful revival of King Henry VIII. She also understudied Terry in several roles.
in Augustin Daly
's production of Love in Tandem at Daly's Theatre
, and the two married the following year. In 1895, Bourchier became lessee of the Royalty Theatre
, and Vanbrugh became his leading lady in many productions, including The Chilli Widow, Mr and Mrs, Monsieur de Paris and The Queens Proctor. Bourchier, Vanbrugh and her sister Irene toured America beginning in 1897. Returning to England, Vanbrugh played the title role in Teresa, which he produced at the Metropole. After managing several productions with Charles Wyndham
, Bourchier became lessee of the Garrick Theatre
. In 1902, Vanbrugh and Bourchier had a child, Prudence Bourchier, who also became an actress, taking the stage name Vanbrugh.
Over the six years of Bourchier's management at the Garrick, Vanbrugh starred in many of his productions, including The Bishop's Move, My Lady Virtue, Whitewashing Julia, The Arm of the Law and W. S. Gilbert
's The Fairy's Dilemma
(1904). Their production of The Walls of Jericho by Alfred Sutro
in 1904, ran for a very successful 423 performances. In 1905, Violet reprised her role of Portia in Bourchier's production of The Merchant of Venice and again in a command performance for King Edward at Windsor Castle
. In 1906, at Stratford upon Avon, she played Lady Macbeth to her husband's Macbeth. Vanbrugh and Bourchier toured in 1908 in John Glayde's Honour and appeared together as King Henry and Queen Katherine in Sir Herbert Tree's successful production of Henry VIII
, which was followed by Tree's silent film of the play.
In 1913, she appeared in Mrs. Pomeroy's Reputation by Horace Annesley Vachell and Thomas Cobb at The Queen's Theatre. They then produced their own movie in Germany of scenes from Macbeth. They continued to play in Shakespeare and other pieces through World War I, but their marriage was becoming difficult. They toured together in 1916 but then separated and finally divorced in 1918. A contemporary later observed, "He treated her very much as Henry VIII treated Anne Boleyn
– except he didn't quite cut off her head." Bourchier remarried a much younger actress, Violet Marion Kyrle Bellew, but Vanbrugh never remarried. She continued acting steadily until 1939, playing with much success in Thunder in the Air as Mrs Vexted in 1928. She also appeared in three further films during the 1930s, including Pygmalion
(1938), together with Leslie Howard
and Wendy Hiller
. In her 50th season on stage, she starred in The Merry Wives of Windsor
at The Ring Blackfriars (playing Mistress Ford to her sister's Mistress Page), and the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
. Her last film appearance was in 1940 in Young Man's Fancy
. During the Battle of Britain
, the Vanbrugh sisters carried out what a biographer calls "a characteristic piece of war work" by giving, with Donald Wolfit
, lunchtime performances of extracts from The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Strand Theatre
.
Vanbrugh died in London in 1942 at the age of 75.
Irene Vanbrugh
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE , née Barnes, was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession, and sustained a career for more than 50 years....
. From 1893 to World War I, Vanbrugh found much success together with her actor-manager
Actor-manager
An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the company's business and financial arrangements, sometimes taking over the management of a theatre, to perform plays of their own choice and in which they will usually star...
husband Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier was an English actor and theatre manager. He married and later divorced the actress Violet Vanbrugh....
, whom she divorced in 1918.
Biography
Violet Augusta Mary Barnes was born in ExeterExeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
, England, the eldest of six children of the Rev Reginald Henry Barnes (1831–1889), Prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....
and Vicar of Heavitree
Heavitree
Heavitree is a district of Exeter, Devon, England. Part of the historic district is currently one of the wards for elections to the City Council. Formerly an independent Urban District, it became a part of Exeter in 1913...
, and his wife, Frances Mary Emily née Nation. She was the elder sister of the actress Irene Vanbrugh
Irene Vanbrugh
Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE , née Barnes, was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession, and sustained a career for more than 50 years....
and the theatrical educator Kenneth Barnes
Kenneth Barnes
Sir Kenneth Ralph Barnes, KGB, CBE was director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, from 1909 until 1955.He was born in Heavitree, near Exeter, one of six siblings...
. She grew up in Exeter and was then educated in France and Germany.
Early career
When Violet decided to enter the acting profession, the actress Ellen TerryEllen 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....
, a family friend, suggested that she should adopt the stage name Vanbrugh. Violet's early success encouraged Irene to follow her into the profession, and she too took the stage surname Vanbrugh. Both sisters enrolled at Sarah Thorne
Sarah Thorne
Sarah Thorne was a British actress and actor-manager of the nineteenth century who managed the Theatre Royal at Margate for many years and who ran a School for Acting there widely regarded as Britain's first formal drama school...
's school of acting, based at Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
, which gave them a thorough practical grounding. Irene recalled, "We played every kind of play there; comedy, farce, and drama of the deepest dye; while at Christmas there came the pantomime, so that the Juliet of a week ago might be the Prince Paragon of the Yule-tide extravaganza." The sisters played together in As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
at the Theatre Royal, Margate, with Violet in the lead role, Rosalind, and Irene in the smaller part of Phoebe. 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...
, a grand nephew of Ellen Terry, described the two:
The Vanbrugh sisters were remarkably alike in appearance. Tall and imposing, beautifully spoken, they moved with grace. ... They were elegantly but never ostentatiously dressed, entering and leaving the stage with unerring authority. ... Violet never struck me as a natural comedienne, as Irene was.
Ellen Terry helped Violet Vanbrugh land her first professional acting role in an 1886 burlesque, by F. C. Burnand, Faust and Loose, at Toole's Theatre. The same year, she made her West End theatre
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...
debut as Ellen in The Little Pilgrims. She then toured and also returned to Toole's, playing several roles until 1887 including Lady Anne in The Butler. Returning to Margate later that year, she appeared in Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
as Ophelia, in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
as Helena, in As You Like It as Rosalind and in The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
as Portia.
In London in 1888, she played Gertrude in the Deputy Registrar. In 1889 she joined the Kendals at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
as Lady Gillingham in The Weaker Sex, and at the end of the year travelled with them to the U.S., where she played Lady Ingram in the comedy A Scrap of Paper and in dramas such as The Iron Master, Impulse and A White Lie and comedies such The Weaker Sex. Back in England in 1891, she joined 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...
and Ellen Terry at the Lyceum Theatre as Anne Boleyn in his successful revival of King Henry VIII. She also understudied Terry in several roles.
Bourchier and later years
In 1893, she appeared together with Arthur BourchierArthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier was an English actor and theatre manager. He married and later divorced the actress Violet Vanbrugh....
in Augustin Daly
Augustin Daly
John Augustin Daly was an American theatrical manager and playwright active in both the US and UK.-Biography:Daly was born in Plymouth, North Carolina and educated at Norfolk, Va...
's production of Love in Tandem at 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:...
, and the two married the following year. In 1895, Bourchier became lessee of the Royalty Theatre
Royalty Theatre
The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...
, and Vanbrugh became his leading lady in many productions, including The Chilli Widow, Mr and Mrs, Monsieur de Paris and The Queens Proctor. Bourchier, Vanbrugh and her sister Irene toured America beginning in 1897. Returning to England, Vanbrugh played the title role in Teresa, which he produced at the Metropole. After managing several productions with Charles Wyndham
Charles Wyndham
Sir Charles Wyndham was an English actor-manager, born as Charles Culverwell in Liverpool, the son of a doctor. He was educated abroad, at King's College London and at the College of Surgeons and the Peter Street Anatomical School, Dublin...
, Bourchier became lessee of the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...
. In 1902, Vanbrugh and Bourchier had a child, Prudence Bourchier, who also became an actress, taking the stage name Vanbrugh.
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 The Fairy's Dilemma
The Fairy's Dilemma
Harlequin and the Fairy's Dilemma, retitled The Fairy's Dilemma shortly after the play opened, is a play in two acts by W. S. Gilbert that parodies the harlequinade that concluded 19th-century pantomimes....
(1904). Their production of The Walls of Jericho by 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...
in 1904, ran for a very successful 423 performances. In 1905, Violet reprised her role of Portia in Bourchier's production of The Merchant of Venice and again in a command performance for King Edward at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
. In 1906, at Stratford upon Avon, she played Lady Macbeth to her husband's Macbeth. Vanbrugh and Bourchier toured in 1908 in John Glayde's Honour and appeared together as King Henry and Queen Katherine in Sir Herbert Tree's successful production of Henry VIII
Henry VIII (play)
The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight is a history play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication...
, which was followed by Tree's silent film of the play.
In 1913, she appeared in Mrs. Pomeroy's Reputation by Horace Annesley Vachell and Thomas Cobb at The Queen's Theatre. They then produced their own movie in Germany of scenes from Macbeth. They continued to play in Shakespeare and other pieces through World War I, but their marriage was becoming difficult. They toured together in 1916 but then separated and finally divorced in 1918. A contemporary later observed, "He treated her very much as Henry VIII treated Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
– except he didn't quite cut off her head." Bourchier remarried a much younger actress, Violet Marion Kyrle Bellew, but Vanbrugh never remarried. She continued acting steadily until 1939, playing with much success in Thunder in the Air as Mrs Vexted in 1928. She also appeared in three further films during the 1930s, including Pygmalion
Pygmalion (1938 film)
Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller....
(1938), together with Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (actor)
Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind and roles in Berkeley Square , Of Human Bondage , The Scarlet Pimpernel , The Petrified Forest , Pygmalion , Intermezzo , Pimpernel Smith...
and Wendy Hiller
Wendy Hiller
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...
. In her 50th season on stage, she starred in The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
at The Ring Blackfriars (playing Mistress Ford to her sister's Mistress Page), and the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, in the City of Westminster, London, is a permanent venue with an annual sixteen-week summer season. It was founded in 1932 by Sydney Carroll and Robert Atkins.-The theatre:...
. Her last film appearance was in 1940 in Young Man's Fancy
Young Man's Fancy (film)
Young Man's Fancy is a 77 minute long 1940 British comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson, who also wrote the story, and starring Anna Lee and Griffith Jones. An aristocratic Englishman is unhappily engaged to a brewery heiress but meets a human cannonball during a visit to a circus and falls in...
. During the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, the Vanbrugh sisters carried out what a biographer calls "a characteristic piece of war work" by giving, with Donald Wolfit
Donald Wolfit
Sir Donald Wolfit, KBE was a well-known English actor-manager.-Biography:Wolfit, who was "Woolfitt" at birth was born at New Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and attended the Magnus Grammar School and made his stage début in 1920...
, lunchtime performances of extracts from The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Strand Theatre
Strand Theatre
- England :* Royal Strand Theatre, London* Strand Theatre , London in the United States...
.
Vanbrugh died in London in 1942 at the age of 75.
External links
- Violet Vanbrugh at the IMDB database
- Photos of Vanbrugh, especially in Shakespeare roles at the Shakespeare and the Players site
- NY Times review of Vanbrugh and Bourchier
- NPG gallery of portraits of Vanbrugh