Camille Clifford (1885-1971)

Camille Clifford (1885-1971)

Camilla Antoinette Clifford was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 29th June, 1885. She was the daughter of Reynold Clifford, a roving sailor, and his wife Matilda Ottersen. She was raised for a time in Sweden, but her mother died whilst she was still a small child and her seafaring father was lost at sea a few years later. Orphaned Camille was then sent to live with her aunt, Mrs Franz Ottersen, in Christiania in Norway, but there she was poorly treated as a household drudge. Salvation was not far away however, and a rich relative living in Boston sent money for her passage to America.

The young girl was deposited all alone in the rough conditions of the steerage section for the long sea voyage, but she so charmed the ships crew that they soon found comfortable quarters for her in the second class section and treated her like a princess, even arranging a party for her when she celebrated her fifteenth birthday on board. She landed on the American continent at Nova Scotia under the name of Ottersen, but she immediately cast off the name that reminded her of her wicked aunt and insisted from there on of going by the name of Clifford, after her father. Her American relative, Mrs. Schilling, was as good to her as her aunt had been bad, and took her in like a daughter.

When she was old enough, at her own insistence, Camille went into service as a parlourmaid, but she always had dreams of greater things. Leaving domestic service she worked for a time as a seamstress, then as a shop girl, all the while practicing her English until her Scandinavian accent was completely gone so that she might pursue a career on the stage. In late 1902, just turned seventeen years old, she found work in the chorus line of "The Defender" at the Broadway Theatre in New York, then in January 1903 joined the chorus line for "Morrocco Bound" at the Park Theatre in Boston. Next came a non-speaking role in the original cast of the hit musical comedy "The Prince of Pilsen" which opened at the Broadway on 17th March 1903. The following year she came to England with the cast of that production and first appeared on the English stage at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 14th May 1904.

Whilst still a relatively minor player, her striking beauty and perfect hourglass figure soon drew attention and she quickly became a sensation as the very epitome of the 'Gibson Girl'. The Gibson Girl was an ideal of feminine beauty popularised in illustrations by the American artist Charles Dana Gibson. She presented an upright poise with the head held high, shoulders down, chest well forward with long sloping bust, impossibly thin waist and a graceful curve over the hips. It was an imaginary ideal that few real women could come close to, but Camille fit the part so perfectly that she could have been the very model on whom the drawings were made.

Taking advantage of her notoriety, the actor, author and composer Leslie Stiles wrote a song for her entitled "Why do they call me a Gibson Girl" which she first sang at the Lyceum Theatre in London in January 1905. Later that year she appeared in "The Catch of the Season" at the Vaudeville Theatre with Ellaline Terris and Seymour Hicks, and the following year won her largest role to date as the 'Duchess of Dunmow' in "The Belle of Mayfair" (a musical comedy with songs by Leslie Stuart).

She then retired after a short stage career of only four years to marry ino the Peerage. She was wedded to Captain the Honourable Henry Lyndhurst Bruce, son and heir of Lord Aberdare, at a London registry office on 11th October 1906. Lord Aberdare heartily objected to the match and cut-off his son's allowance, forcing him to find work as an automobile salesman. Eventually the Lord mellowed toward Camille and restored his son's allowance so that the couple were able to live comfortably. The couple had one child, Margaret (Bruce), who was born on 13th August 1909 but sadly did not survive, dying only five days later. Her marriage ended all too soon also, as her husband died in the Great War on 14th December 1914, aged only 33 - shot dead leading a charge on a German trench.

Gibson Girls

Following the death of her husband Camille made a brief return to the stage, appearing in "The Girl of the Future" at the Finsbury Park Empire and then on tour. She married a second time, to Captain John Meredyth Jones Evans MC of the Royal Flying Corps (formerly of the Welsh Fusiliers) on 9th August 1917. After the war, Camille gave up the stage again, for good this time, and the couple took up residence in Kensington. Later, they moved into the country where Camille ran a stable of successful racehorses. Camille Clifford died on 28th June, 1971.

In a very short theatrical career, Camille never attained any great heights as a performer. Her fame came not from her acting talents, but from her beauty and in particular the perfection of her bodily physique. All beautiful women of that era who fit the Gibson pattern would be called 'Gibson Girls', but few if any fit the pattern more perfectly than Camille. She was famous for her costumes which were certain to top next seasons fashions, and copies of the gown that she wore in "The Prince of Pilsen" were advertised as 'the original Gibson Girl costume'. That gown was a revealing low cut evening dress in green silk which hugged her body and showed off her figure to total perfection. And if beauty brought her fame it also brought her fortune, from her earnings from testimonials to dressmakers, and her marriages into wealth and the peerage.