Born in London, Julia Neilson spent her early years studying in Germany before enrolling in the Royal Academy of Music and earning prize after prize for her singing abilities. On March 21, 1888, she made her first stage appearance at the Lyceum Theatre in W.S. Gilbert’s Pygmalion and Galatea in the role of Cynisca. A few months later, she moved up to the lead role of Galatea opposite Lewis Waller. Soon, she began performing and touring with Beerbohm Tree, who introduced her to Shakespeare through his production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. She continued to work under Tree’s guidance at the Haymarket Theatre, honing her craft and renown as an acclaimed tragedienne. In 1890, she met and married fellow actor Fred Terry who was also working at the Haymarket, and came from a famous acting family. Together, in their five years in Tree’s company, they performed in a variety of plays, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

In 1892, Neilson and Terry welcomed a daughter, Phyllis, into the world, who herself would grow up to become an accomplished actor in her own right. Later in life, both she and Phyllis would appear on stage several times together. Their second child, Dennis, also an actor-to-be, was both in 1895. After much success in England and in New York, Neilson and Terry performed as Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and she played, to much acclaim, Rosalind in As You Like It, both staged at the St. James’s Theatre in London in 1898. Neilson was known for her statuesque figure and expressive voice. In 1899, she returned to Tree’s company, now at Her Majesty’s Theatre, to play the role of Lady Constance in King John, and appeared in the short, early silent film version of this play. With this second stint with Tree, Neilson also appeared as Oberon in the 1900 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and then again as Rosalind in As You Like It.

After 1905, she devoted much of her time to theater management. From 1900, she and her husband managed the Haymarket Theatre for over twenty-seven years and led successful annual seasons at the New Theatre in London between 1905 and 1913. Neilson retired from the stage in 1934, a year after Fred’s death and two years after the untimely death of her son Dennis. She was honored in 1934 with a celebratory luncheon to honor the fiftieth anniversary of her stage debut. Neilson passed away after a fall at her home in London in 1957. Both she and Fred are buried at Hampstead Cemetery in London.

Neilson is connected to many of the famous names in the acting community. Her cousins include Eileen and Nora Kerin and a young John Gielgud, and through her marriage to Fred, she became sister to Ellen and Kate Terry, and aunt of such figures as Edith and Edward Gordon Craig.

Viola, somewhat of a polymath, was born in London in 1884. She was eldest daughter of Maude and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. She got her start early by performing at her father’s company at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and in 1904, she debuted, successfully, as Viola in Twelfth Night. Over the next several years, she appeared in Much Ado About Nothing as Hero, The Tempest as Ariel, Richard II as the Queen, The Merry Wives of Windsor as Anne Page, Ophelia in Hamlet, and Perdita in The Winter’s Tale. In the latter, Dame Ellen Terry played Hermione. She went on to Italy to pursue her ambitions in opera for some years after that.

In 1919, Tree began management of the Aldwych Theatre (later home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1960-1982) in London and in 1923, she played her last Shakespeare role—Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She did, however, continue her stage career and traveled around the world performing. She appeared, also, in several films. One of these, Pygmalion (1938), marked the third time a member of the Tree family had played in a premiere of this Bernard Shaw work.

Tree was also a playwright, co-writing The Dancers with Gerald du Maurier in 1923 and The Swallow in 1925. She was also a prolific writer, having published many books in her lifetime: her memoirs, Castles in the Air (1926); a book on etiquette, Can I Help You? (1937); a novel; a biography of her husband; and an anthology, Alan Parsons’ Book (1937).

Wilkie made his stage debut in 1899 and almost immediately began touring with three of the great Shakespeare companies, those of Rawson Buckley, Ben Greet and Frank Benson. After his experience with these companies and the numerous parts he played in Shakespeare he formed his own company and toured England, India, and Australia. In 1920 after his company’s successful runs in Melbourne and Sydney, he took his troupe over much of Asia. In all, he staged twenty-seven of Shakespeare’s plays. In 1932, he returned to England and again toured the provinces with Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. He produced a few contemporary dramas, but most of his career was dedicated to Shakespeare and he kept his company together long after the demise of most other actor-manager groups.