Dame Ellen Terry, a part of a large and famous family of actors and actor-managers, was one of the most famous actresses in the world in the nineteenth century. Many of her most famous roles were alongside Sir Henry Irving, one of the most famous male actors in the world at the time. She joined his company in 1878, becoming his leading lady, touring both America and Britain in her famous roles in The Merchant of Venice and Much Ado About Nothing, to name a few. Her career lasted nearly seventy years and she appeared in several films in the 1920s after a failed venture to manage the Imperial Theatre in London. Later in life, she became known for her one-woman shows, lectures, and recitations of soliloquies from Shakespeare’s heroines, much like performances from our own Anna Deavere Smith today.

Her brother was Fred Terry and her niece and nephew were Phyllis and Dennis Neilson-Terry. Her sister-in-law was Julia Neilson (wife of Fred). All were accomplished actors in their own right. Terry was appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1925, the second time an actress was honored as such in history.

Using the stage name Constance Featherstonhaugh in her first stage appearance she played Juliet with Kyrle Bellew in 1883. She soon after joined Frank Benson‘s company and they married in 1886. With Frank’s company she of course played a number of Shakespeare parts, almost all the female leads in the repertory in every major theatre in Great Britain. She married Benson in 1886 until they separated due to his affair with another actress, Genevieve Smeek. Constance became Lady Benson upon Francis’s knighting in 1916 by King George. In 1911, she starred in silent film versions of Richard III, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew.

Among other books, Lady Benson wrote an interesting autobiography that is filled with anecdotes about the actors who worked with Benson called Mainly Players: Bensonian Memories (1926).