Marie Tempest (1866-1942)

Marie Tempest (1866-1942)

Marie Tempest was born Mary Susan Etherington in London on 15th July, 1866, the daughter of Edwin Etherington and his wife Sarah (Tempest). She was educated at the Convent des Ursulines, Thildonck, Belgium, and later studied music in Paris and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the latter she studied under the great Spanish singer Manuel Garcia (who had tutored Letty Lind) and was classically trained as a soprano - winning bronze, silver and gold medals for her performances.

Marie made her first professional stage appearance at the Comedy Theatre on May 30th, 1885, as 'Fiametta' in a revival of the comic opera "Boccaccio". She was next seen in November of the same year as 'the Lady Blanche' in Henry Herman's romatic opera "The Fay o' Fire" at the Opera Comique Theatre. She first came to prominence however, when she took over the title role in the long-running comic opera "Erminie" back at the Comedy Theatre from December 1885. That same year Marie, still only nineteen years of age, had been married to Alfred Edward Izard, that marriage however subsequently ending in divorce.

On stage the following year she scored successes as 'Rosella' in "Frivoli" at the Drury Lane, and 'the Countess Bianca' in "La Bearnaise" at the Prince of Wales. Then, in February 1887, the great theatrical impressario George Edwardes found himself with an unaccustomed flop on his hands in the ailing comic opera "Dorothy". He decided to cut his losses and sold the production to Henry Leslie, the Gaiety accountant. Leslie immediately sacked his leading lady, Marion Hood, and took a chance on replacing her with a still relatively inexperienced and little known young talent with a golden voice - Marie Tempest.

Marie amply repaid his faith, and was largely responsible for turning Edwardes failure into Leslie's record-breaking success. She would continue to play 'Dorothy' at the Gaiety and subsequently at the Lyric (which Leslie built out of the profits) for the next two years - the opera then having been performed on a record (for any kind of opera) 931 occasions. Reports of an affair with her producer during this time blighted her marriage, but the resultant notoriety only added to her popular appeal.

Marie next starred in the comic opera Doris (by the same team) before creating the role of 'Kitty Carol' in another comic opera "The Red Hussar", both at the Lyric. In 1890 she crossed to America for the first time opening in New York in the latter role at Palmers Theatre on August 5th. She then spent the next year touring in America and Canada with the J.C. Duff Comic Opera Company and appearing in a range of popular operettas, including "Carmen", "Dorothy", "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Bohemian Girl" to name but a few. She then spent around three years on Broadway in New York appearing in numerous productions including "The Tyrolean" and the "The Fencing Master" at the Casino Theatre, and "The Algerian" at the Garden Theatre.

In 1895, when George Edwardes took over the lease of Daly's theatre he needed a leading lady to put in residence there and thought of the young woman who had turned his failure, "Dorothy", into such a resounding success. He telegraphed Marie in the US to ask her to return home to take up the position. She accepted, and sailed home in a luxury suite provided by Edwardes.

She was next seen on the English stage as 'Adele' in "An Artist's Model" opening on February 2nd. It was a disaster, the first night went so badly that Edwardes called in Owen Hall and Sidney Jones the very next day to rewrite the entire piece. They made such a good job of its reconstruction that it ran for an impressive 405 performances. By now her craft was finely polished and she subsequently made a major success as 'O Mimosa San' in Owen Hall's musical play "The Geisha" - a role she would continue to perform for over two years from the plays opening in April 1896. That was followed by roles in "A Greek Slave" and the smash hit "San Toy".

Marie's time at Daly's was not without its troubles however. Her arguments with Edwardes were legendary, Marie proving to be the most troublesome actress he had ever dealt with. She was also less than popular with her fellow performers, prone to giving stage directions and unwanted advice to her fellow performers. In "San Toy" she argued with Edwardes over her costume. He had wanted her, in her role as a Chinese boy, to wear Chinese trousers. Marie however, felt it was becoming to wear shorts and took the trousers home and cut them down. Edwardes was livid and told her she should leave. She said she would and, true to her word, mid-way through the run in the Autumn of 1900 she did.

In 1899, her first marriage to Alfred Izard having broken up, Marie had married again, this time to the playwrite Cosmo Stuart (Cosmo Charles Gordon-Lennox) who was the son of Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox. The marriage taking place in the St George Hanover Square area of London. Upon leaving Daly's, and on her new husband's advice, Marie made the bold decision to turn her back on musical comedy which had brought her so much success, and henceforth appear only in 'straight' comedy. Her first role in this genre was as 'Nell Gwyn' in "English Nell" at the Prince of Wales in August 1900, in which she scored an immediate success. In August 1902 she opened in "The Marriage of Kitty", penned by her husband, at the Duke of York's. It was a big success and firmly established her as a leading comedy actress.

In the years that followed Marie appeared in many succesful productions, particularly when playing the sharp-tongued lady in drawing room comedies. She toured America in 1904 as 'Kitty Silverton' in "The Marriage of Kitty" and the following year as 'Suzanne Trevor' in "The Freedom of Suzanne", two of her more successful roles. She returned to America for an extended tour in 1909 and remained there for the next two years.

Back in England in 1911, she took over the lease at The Duke of York's theatre for a short time and staged a revival of "The Marriage of Kitty". This was the beginning of her managerial career and in the years that followed she would mainly appear in productions under her own management at various London theatres. In 1913 she appeared as 'Pert' in the all-star revival of "London Assurance" at the St James given in aid of the King George's Actors Pension Fund.

Marie spent most of the war years touring in America and Canada before embarking in 1917 on a World tour taking in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Straits Settlements (then a British colony incorporating Singapore, Penang and other islands), China, Japan and the Phillipines. Returning via America, she did not set foot again English soil until December 1922, after an absence of eight years. Marie's second husband, Cosmo, had died a year earlier (although the marriage had been virtually over for some time before that) and she had already married again, this time to the actor W. Graham Browne who had accompanied her throughout her World tour. By now Marie was a mature woman, but continued to appear in comedy and soon carved out a niche for herself playing charming and elegant middle-aged women. eg. 'Judith Bliss' in Hay Fever (1925), 'Olivia' in "Mr Pim Passes By" (1928) and 'Fanny Cavendish' in "Theatre Royal" (1934). In 1924 she made a rare return to a singing part when she took on the role of 'Mrs Nolan' in "Midsummer Madness" at the Lyric, and in 1927 she appeared at the Criterion in the title role of "The Marquise" which had been especially written for her by Noel Coward.

Marie remained a regular on the London stage beyond the occasion of her golden jubilee on the stage for which she was awarded a testimonial matinee at the Drury Lane Theatre on 28th May, 1935. Their Majesties the King and Queen were in attendance to see Marie appear in one act each from "The Marriage of Kitty" and "Little Catherine", two of her seminal roles. The event raised around five thousand pounds, a very considerable sum in those days, but Marie who was already sufficiently wealthy to assure her future, handed over the money to St George's Hospital in London to endow a "Marie Tempest Ward" for the benefit of actors and actresses. Marie lost her third husband in 1937, the same year that she was created a Dame of the British Empire for her services to the stage. She continued to act, although with less frequency, up until the time of her own death in London on October 15th, 1942.

In her prime, Marie Tempest was a petite brunette, not particularly pretty in the conventional way but possessed of a superb singing voice, magnetic personality, and above all a genius for comedy. She made a number of vocal recordings during the course of her career and appeared in four films (see below). At the height of her career in the pre-Great War days her success had perhaps gone to her head and she acquired a reputation for petulance which sometimes upset those she worked for and with. In her own words "I was a self-important little baggage who was more disliked than liked by managers in those days".

She outgrew this troublesome temperament in later years however, and became a major driving force in working for the good of the members of her profession. In 1934 she had been instrumental in the founding of the actors union 'Equity' when she hosted a dinner at the Savoy for eighty-five leading entertainers and at the end of the evening pronounced that noone was allowed to leave until they had signed a paper containing the following declaration "We the undersigned, hereby pledge ourselves that we will not enter into any engagements with theatre managers on conditions which would deny our right to refuse to work with non-members of Equity."

Movie Credits (source www.imdb.com)
1938 - Jennifer Varwell in "Yellow Sands"
1937 - Baroness Lindenborg in "Moonlight Sonata"
1915 - Mrs Plum in "Mrs. Plum's Pudding"
1900 - San Toy in "San Toy"