(1867-1942) Violet Vanbrugh began her long, illustrious stage career in 1886. She first played Shakespeare in 1888 as Ophelia, Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Rosalind, and Portia (The Merchant of Venice), a part she repeated in 1905; that same year she played Portia by Royal Command of King Edward V at Windsor Castle. After a brief tour in America, she returned to England in 1892 to join Sir Henry Irving‘s company where she played Anne Boleyn in Henry VIII. The nextRead more