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| Lillah McCarthy |
Lila Emma (Lillah) McCarthy was born in Cheltenham on 22nd September, 1875. She was the daughter of J. McCarthy (FRAS - Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society) and younger sister of Daniel McCarthy (who would also pursue a career on the stage). She was educated in Cheltenham and later in London where she studied elocution under Hermann Vezin and Emil Behnke, two of the foremost theatrical teachers of their day. Vezin was a former actor from the U.S. who had retired from the stage to become the most celebrated teacher of acting and elocution in England. Behnke was the leading laryngolist and voice expert of his day.
Lillah possesed inate talents from the start and with tutors such as these to help her perfect them the portents were good for a distinguished career. In 1895 she joined A.E. Drinkwater's touring company and gained her first stage appearance with him in small parts. Later that same year she joined Ben Greet's company where she added to her experience in various Shakespearean roles, including 'Desdemona' and 'Juliet'. The following year she joined Wilson Barrett at the Lyric, playing 'Berenice' in the hugely successful "The Sign of the Cross" (which Barrett had penned himself and first produced in the USA then in Leeds before bringing it to the West End). Lillah subsequently toured in England as 'Mercia' in the same play, before crossing to America with William Greet (Ben Greet's elder brother) in the same role.
She returned to England in 1897 and toured in "The Sorrows of Satan" before rejoining Wilson Barrett on a tour of Australia. She returned to England in 1899 and was seen in a number of supporting roles in West End theatres before joining Barrett again the following year, this time as his leading lady. She would remain with Barrett for the next four years, appearing in various London theatres as well as concluding further tours of Australia and South Africa. Prominent among her roles in this period were 'Lygia' in "Quo Vadis", 'Almida' in "Claudian", 'Nellie Denver' in "The Silver King", 'Princess Zebuda' in "The Christian King", 'Ophelia' in "Hamlet" and 'Desdemona' in "Othello".
She parted from Barrett in 1904 whereupon she was seen playing 'Rosamund' in "The Master of Kingsgift" at The Avenue before joining Beerbohm Tree for a season at His Majesty's - playing 'Lady Fancourt' in "Agatha", 'Henriette' in "A Man's Shadow", 'Loyse' in "The Ballad Monger" and 'Calpurnia' in "Julius Caesar".
In 1905 she became the leading lady at The Court Theatre, which was then under the joint management of Harley Granville Barker and J.E. Vedrenne, with Bernard Shaw as a major financier. Her first role at The Court was as Nora in Shaw's "John Bull's Other Island". Something of an experimental play, it broke all the rules of the day and had hardly any plot, captivating its audiences instead with witty dialogue and clever characterisations. She next created a sensation as 'Ann Whitefield' in Shaw's masterpiece "Man and Superman". These two plays, in which Granville Barker himself played the male lead, marked the beginning of a long and successful association with Barker, who would soon become her husband, and Shaw who soon counted her as his favourite actress and later 'blessed the day' he found her. When he wrote "The Doctors Dilemma" he tailored the part of Jennifer especially for her. He wrote most of the play whilst staying in Cornwall and wrote to Lillah of the part he had designed for her "Here in King Arthur's country the name Guinevere survives as Jennifer."
And yet, despite his admiration of her, he could yet be scathing when her performances did not meet his high standards. Of her role as 'Raina' in the 1907 revival of the play of that name he wrote to Lillah "What Raina wants, is the extremity of style—style—Comedie Francaise, Queen of Spain style. Do you hear, worthless wretch that you are?—STYLE."
When Lillah married Barker in 1906 it was much to Shaw's dismay, who counted the pair his theatrical 'children' and felt they were not right for each other. He must have felt he was proved wrong however, when their partnership proved to be seemingly as strong off-stage as it was on, as did their ongoing association with Shaw himself. Together, they successfully produced a number of other Shaw plays in the years that followed, including "You never can tell", "The Doctors dilemma", and "Arms and the man". The later was staged at The Savoy which Barker and Vedrenne took over in 1907. Unfortunately their experimental repertory of plays by progressive new playwrights which had worked so well at the Court did not attract the anticipated audiences at the much larger Savoy and proved a commercial failure.
They soon found themselves back upon the road to success however, albeit their paths seperated for a time. In 1908 Barker went on tour with a repertory of plays from his association with Vedrenne, and the following year was employed by the American impresario Charles Frohman to direct a repertory season of new plays in matinee at The Duke of York's Theatre. Lillah, meanwhile, easily found other work on the London stage including creating the role of 'Lady Lazenby' in the first production of J.M. Barrie's hugeley successful "What Every Woman Knows" at The Duke of York's from September 1908.
In 1911, Lillah and Barker went into management together, taking over The Little Theatre in John Street. One of their early productions there was Shaw's "Fanny's First Play" which he had penned anonymously and for which he gave Lillah the strange instruction to do everything to suggest the play was by Barrie. Whether theatregoers were taken in by the deception is uncertain, whether they enjoyed the play is in no doubt - it ran for 622 performances. The following year, they returned to management of the Savoy, and later The St. James producing numerous successful plays. In 1913, Lillah's father passed away leaving her an inheritance of £50,000 - a massive sum in those days ensuring she need never work again if she did not wish it. Lillah was not yet ready to retire however, she carried on working and the following year recreated her former role of Nellie Denver in an 'all-star' revival of "The Silver King" in aid of the King George's Actors Pension Fund.
In January 1915, Lillah accompanied her husband to America where they first appeared in "Androcles and The Lion" at Wallack's Theatre in New York. Lillah remained in the US for the whole of that year before returning to London to play the title role in "Judith" at The Queen's Theatre from January 1916. Meanwhile, Barker remained in America taking his company on a tour of the great American universities, including Harvard, Yale and Princeton. It was to be a fateful parting. Lillah was astonished later that year when Barker sent her, by way of Shaw, a demand for her consent to a divorce. Barker had met, and instantly fallen in love with, Helen Huntingdon, author and poet and the wife of one of his most generous American backers. The affair ended both their marriages, as well as Barker's stage career. He subsequently married his new love but quit the stage, and his friendship with Shaw, on her insistence that he cut all ties to his previous life.
Lillah divorced Barker in 1918 and subsequently was remarried to Sir Frederick Keeble C.B.E, F.R.S of Magdalen College, Oxford. She remained active on the stage until 1921, also appearing in two films: Masks and Faces (1918 - as Kitty Clive) and Mr. Wu (1919 - as Mrs. Gregory). Her last stage role prior to her retirement being 'Dona Sol' in "Blood and Sand" at The New Theatre opening in December 1921. This was not the last time she was seen on stage however. She came out of retirement ten years later to appear in the chronicle play "Sarah Siddons, the greatest of the Kembles" at Hereford in June 1931 as part of the Siddons Centenary celebration. In December the following year she appeared in a single performance in the title-role of "Iphigenia in Taurus" at the Haymarket. She took her final curtain call at Oxford in July 1935, when she played the title-role in Boadicea.
In retirement she lived with her new husband at Boars Hill in Oxford and later at Fowey in Cornwall. She passed her time in writing her autobiographies (two volumes were published, "My Life" in 1930 and "Myself and My Friends" in 1933) and indulging her hobbies of walking, sailing, and playing golf. Lillah McCarthy died in London on 15th April, 1960.
Movie Credits (source www.imdb.com)
1918 - Masks and Faces [Kitty Clive]
1919 - Mr Wu [Mrs. Gregory]
Book Credits
1930 - My Life [on the Stage] (Strand Magazine)
1933 - Myself and My Friends