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.

Younger brother of Phyllis Neilson-Terry. Nephew of Dame Ellen Terry. Son of Julia Neilson and Fred Terry.

Dennis was born into the legendary acting family and had big shoes to fill from day one. He made his stage debut in the 1906 jubilee celebrations for his aunt, Ellen, as a page in Much Ado About Nothing. Under the stage name “Derrick Dennis,” he made his next appearance as Silvius in As You Like It (1911). After this, he spent time with his parent’s company before touring with Sir Frank Benson‘s company, allowing him the opportunity to play many Shakespeare roles: Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice, Rosencrantz in Hamlet, Paris in Romeo & Juliet, Octavius in Antony & Cleopatra, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Malcolm in Macbeth. 1912 proved to be another fruitful year for Dennis as it saw him performing with Sir Beerbohm Tree‘s company in a performance of Twelfth Night. He played Sebastian, twin to Viola, who was played by his own sister Phyllis. Therein, they seemed to replicate, for another generation, the brother-sister acting team of their father, Fred, and his sister, Ellen, in those exact roles. He also, that year, played Florizel in Harley Granville Barker‘s production of The Winter’s Tale. In 1913, he was especially praised for his starring role, a first for him, in Romeo & Juliet as Romeo. Before serving in the war, Dennis played Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1914).

Dennis served in the Royal West Surrey Regiment of the British Army, demobilized in 1917. He continued acting after the war, although he elected for comic and crowd-pleasing roles. He appeared in several films between 1916 and 1932. After a tour in 1932 with his wife in South Africa, Dennis contracted pneumonia at the age of thirty-six and died there. His body was taken back to England for a funeral and burial.

Elder sister of actor Dennis Neilson-Terry. Daughter of famous Shakespearean actors Julia Neilson and Fred Terry. Niece of Dame Ellen Terry.

Born in London in 1892, Phyllis was in good company. She studied in Paris and then at the Royal Academy of Music to be a singer. She made her first stage appearance in 1909 while on tour with her parent’s company in Blackpool. A few times, she would fill in for her mother when the latter would fall ill. Her acclaim in Shakespeare came early on with a 1910 production of Twelfth Night with Sir Beerbohm Tree‘s company at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Phyllis played the leading role of Viola, while Tree played Malvolio and her father, Fred, as Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. As such, Phyllis replaced Ellen in the role she would play opposite her brother.

For the next four years, she went on to play many of Shakespeare’s leading ladies, much in the legendary (and expected) Terry/Neilson tradition: Desdemona (Othello), Rosalind (As You Like It), Portia (The Merchant of Venice), Juliet. Many of the cards here represent her performances as Juliet as well as other coveted roles. She was lauded extensively for her portrayals. Likewise, in the 1930s, Phyllis played the roles of Lady Macbeth and Queen Katherine in Macbeth and Henry VIII, respectively, at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford.

Legend has it that Phyllis, in 1922, gave her young cousin John Gielgud his first ever paid role in The Wheel by J. B. Fagan. She died in London at age eighty-four after having been married twice.