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Mary Ellis is a Actor American born on 15 june 1897 at New York City (USA)

Mary Ellis

Mary Ellis
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Birth name May Belle Elsas
Nationality USA
Birth 15 june 1897 at New York City (USA)
Death 30 january 2003 (at 105 years) at London (United-kingdom)

Mary Ellis (June 15, 1897 – January 30, 2003) was a long-lived star of the British stage best known for her roles in the genre of musical theatre. After appearing with the Metropolitan Opera beginning in 1918, later appearing opposite Enrico Caruso, she acted on Broadway, creating the title role in Rose Marie. In 1930, she emigrated to England, where she gained additional fame and continued to perform into the 1990s.

Biography

Ellis was born May Belle Elsas in New York City in 1897. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera on December 14, 1918, in the world premiere of Puccini's Il trittico, creating the role of Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, the second of the evening's three one-act operas. Later in the run, she also played Lauretta in the third opera of the triptych, Gianni Schicchi. She also appeared in the premiere of L'oiseau bleu by Albert Wolff, singing Mytyl, in 1919. While in the Metropolitan company she sang Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore to Enrico Caruso's Nemorino and Fyodor in Boris Godunov to Feodor Chaliapin's Boris.

On the Broadway stage, Ellis had the roles of street urchin and errand girl in Louis in 1921, the role of Nerissa in the 1922 production of Merchant of Venice and appeared during 1923 in Casanova with Katherine Cornell. She gained additional notice by creating the title role in Rudolf Friml's operetta Rose Marie in 1924 and played in The Taming of the Shrew and The Crown Prince in 1927. In 1929 she acted the lead role of Becky Sharp in the Players' Club production of Vanity Fair, and played in 1930 in Children of Darkness opposite Basil Sydney. She also played Leah in The Neighborhood Playhouse's 1925 adaptation of S. Ansky's The Dybbuk.

In 1930 Ellis settled in London, having emigrated to England with her third husband, Basil Sydney, whom she had married in 1929. There she starred in Jerome Kern's Music in the Air (1933) and then went on to her best known singing roles as the heroine of three Ivor Novello operettas, Glamorous Night (1935), The Dancing Years (1939) and Arc de Triomphe (1943). She also appeared in a film version of Glamorous Night in 1937.

For most of the Second World War, Ellis abandoned the theatre, performing welfare work in hospitals, and from time to time giving concerts to entertain members of the armed forces. Returning to the stage after the war, Ellis was successful in Noël Coward's 1947 melodrama, Point Valaine, playing a hotel keeper in a sordid, clandestine relationship with an abusive West Indian. In 1948 she gave one of her most praised performances as the embittered Millie Crocker-Harris in Terence Rattigan's The Browning Version. In 1952 she played Volumnia in Coriolanus with Anthony Quayle for the nine-month Stratford season.

In 1954 Ellis was cast as Mrs. Erlynne in Coward's musical After the Ball, but her singing voice had deteriorated drastically, and much of her music had to be cut. Coward blamed her performance for the relative failure of the show. She appeared in the 1960 movie The Three Worlds of Gulliver and made her last stage appearance in 1970, playing Mrs Warren in Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford. She appeared in 1993 in the television series Sherlock Holmes and again in 1994, playing Mary Maberley.

Ellis published her memoirs in 1982 under the title Those Dancing Years. A further autobiography Moments of Truth followed in 1986. She died in London January 30, 2003, aged 105.

Usually with

Leon Shamroy
Leon Shamroy
(1 films)
Joan Hickson
Joan Hickson
(2 films)
Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle
(1 films)
Arnold Korff
Arnold Korff
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Mary Ellis (6 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, 1h40
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Fantastic, Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Musical
Themes Films about magic and magicians
Actors Kerwin Mathews, June Thorburn, Basil Sydney, Lee Patterson, Sherry Alberoni, Grégoire Aslan
Roles Queen of Brobdingnag
Rating64% 3.200953.200953.200953.200953.20095
Gulliver, naufragé d'un navire coulé par la tempête, aborde les plages de Lilliput. Géant au pays des Lilliputiens, Gulliver débarque dans un royaume où la guerre fait rage.
The Magic Box, 1h58
Directed by John Boulting, Roy Boulting, Cliff Owen
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Biography
Actors Robert Donat, Margaret Johnston, Maria Schell, Robert Beatty, Margaret Rutherford, Janette Scott
Roles Mrs Collings
Rating69% 3.4913353.4913353.4913353.4913353.491335
In 1921, William Friese-Greene, in dire financial straits and separated from his wife, but still working, attends a film conference in London. He is saddened that all the attendees are businessmen interested only in moneymaking. He attempts to speak, but no-one is interested and he sits down. He thinks back to his early pioneering days.
Fatal Lady
Fatal Lady (1936)

Directed by Edward Ludwig
Origin USA
Actors Walter Pidgeon, Mary Ellis, John Halliday, Ruth Donnelly, Samuel S. Hinds, Alan Mowbray
Rating67% 3.379373.379373.379373.379373.37937
On her debut as an opera star, Marion Stuart is interrogated and possibly implicated in the death of a male acquaintance. Released, although thoroughly shaken-up, Marion attempts to perform but loses her voice onstage. Humiliated, but driven to sing, she travels to South America under the assumed name of Maria Delasano, and works in an opera company under the tutelage of Feodor Glinka, who wants her to shun men and save herself for her art. Mary resists the persistent attentions of wealthy young Phil Roberts, who follows the company in hopes of marrying her. ...
Paris in Spring, 1h22
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Origin USA
Genres Comedy
Actors Mary Ellis, Tullio Carminati, Ida Lupino, Lynne Overman, Jessie Ralph, Dorothea Wolbert
Rating60% 3.0471353.0471353.0471353.0471353.047135
Afraid of marriage, Simone (Mary Ellis) breaks off her long term engagement with her fiancé Paul de Lille (Tullio Carminati). Paul heads to the top of The Eiffel Tower with thoughts of suicide. In another part of Paris and also afraid of marriage, Mignon (Ida Lupino) breaks it off from her young lover (James Blakely). Despairing, Mignon also climbs to the top of the The Eiffel Tower intending to leap to her death. There she meets Paul and the two compare stories. After discussion, Paul dissuades her from leaping and the two conspire to make their respective partners jealous by pretending to have an affair with each other.