Campbell, Patrick, Mrs., 1865-1940

Campbell, whose maiden name was Beatrice Stella Tanner, was an English actress. Von Zastrow was an actress as well.

Beatrice Stella Cornwallis-West, known by her stage name as Mrs. Patrick Campbell, was a noted English stage actress, who remained popular for over 40 years. She created many classic roles, including Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion", a play written for her. She is also remembered for her famous correspondence with Shaw. The University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections has a mandate to acquire literary papers.

Beatrice Stella Tanner was born February 9, 1865 in London to John and Luiga Tannaer. She married Patrick Campbell and they had two children, Alan and Stella. Her professional acting career began in 1886 whe she joned the Anomalies Dramatic Club in London. She then focused on Shakespeare repertory with the touring troupe of Ben Greet and later the Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer Compnay. She subsequently starred in "The Hunback," "The School for Scandal," and "As You Like It" followed by "The Second Mrs Tanqueray" among other plays.

English actress.

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Campbell, whose maiden name was Beatrice Stella Tanner, was an English actress.

Actress.

English actress, whose maiden name was Beatrice Stella Tanner. Remembered today for her association with G. B. Shaw. She made her debut in 1888 but achieved her first London success in 1893 in the title role of Pinero's Second Mrs. Tanqueray. In 1901 she made the first of her numerous tours to the United States; in 1912 she met Shaw at whose request she originated the role of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

Beatrice Stella Campbell (1865-1940), known professionally as Mrs. Patrick Campbell, was a renowned English actress, famous for her portrayal of characters at once passionate and intelligent. The daughter of Jon Tanner, an English businessman in India, and Maria Romanini, an Italian countess, she began her professional stage career in 1888. Her first great success was as Paula in "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" by Arthur Pinero. Among her famous Shakespearian roles were Juliet, Lady Macbeth, and Ophelia. She also starred as Mélisande in Maeterlinck's "Pélleas and Mélisande," and in the title roles in Ibsen's dedda Gabler," Hofmannsthal's "Elektra," and Yeat's "Deirdre." In 1914 she created the role of Eliza Doolittle in Shaw's "Pygmalion," and she maintained a warm friendship with the playwright. After World War I, she played few new roles, mainly recreating her former starring parts on tour in the United States and England. During the 1930's she also played minor roles in several American films. She died in 1940 in Pau, France.

Biography

Beatrice Stella Tanner was born February 9, 1865 in London to John and Luigia Tanner. She married Patrick Campbell and they had two children, Alan and Stella.

Her professional acting career began in 1886 when she joined the Anomalies Dramatic Club in London. She then focused on Shakespeare repertory with the touring troupe of Ben Greet and later the Mrs. Bandmann-Palmer Company. She subsequently starred in The Hunchback, The School for Scandal, and As You Like It followed by The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, among other plays.

Her acting career ended in 1938 and she passed away in April 1940.

Source:

"Mrs. Campbell, 75, Famous Actress." New York Times, April 11, 1940.

Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner Campbell (1865-1940) was a prominent British actress. She made her debut as Mrs. Patrick Campbell in 1888 playing in a string of minor successes until an 1893 role as Paula in The second Mrs. Tanqueray launched her career and garnered high praise in the press. Mrs. Patrick is particularly remembered for her role as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, a part written for her by George Bernard Shaw, who began correspondence with her in 1899.

Though begun at the close of the previous century, the correspondence between Shaw and Mrs. Patrick did not truly bloom until 1912. At that time, Shaw, the noted playwright, Fabian socialist, journalist, dramatic and literary critic, who had been married to fellow Fabian suffragist Charlotte Frances Payne-Townshend Shaw since 1898, pronounced himself to be "head over ears in love" with Mrs. Patrick. In 1914, when Mrs. Patrick, a widow of almost 15 years, was to marry George Cornwallis-West, Shaw implored her not to marry "that George." The marriage, combined with a souring experience for the two flirtatious friends in Sandwich (1913), seemed to dull the frequency of their correspondence until the 1920s when Mrs. Patrick introduced the idea of publishing their collected letters in her autobiographical work, My life and some letters .

The correspondence, though less frequent through the years, continued to the end of Mrs. Patrick's life. Her will, written in 1934, stated her long-held desire that their correspondence be published in full. Shaw's will, dated the year of his death in 1950, granted long-withheld permission for the correspondence to be published to the financial benefit of Mrs. Patrick's great-grandchildren. The collection, edited by Alan Dent, Bernard Shaw and Mrs. Patrick Campbell: their correspondence (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952), included a significant selection, though not all, of the correspondence. Of the letters included, a number were also edited for content to prevent “pain or embarrassment.”

Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner Campbell (1865-1940) was a prominent British actress. She was the sixth and final child of John Tanner (1831-1893), a successful contractor with the British East India Company, and Maria Luigia Giovanna Romanini (1835-1940), the daughter of the Italian exile, Count Angelo Romanini . Educated haphazardly with a mix of governesses and schools across Europe, Stella, as she called herself, excelled in music. It was a course of study she abandoned, however, upon becoming romantically involved with a neighbor, Patrick Campbell . The two eloped in 1884, Stella pregnant with their first child, Alan Urquhart . In 1886 with the birth of their second child, a daughter named Stella, Patrick’s demotions at work and dwindling salary prompted him to go abroad and seek work in Australia and South Africa. The money sent home however was insuffient to maintain the family and Stella had the idea of generating income for herself on the stage. Despite extreme disapproval from her family, she made her debut as Mrs. Patrick Campbell in Liverpool, 1888, and played in a string of minor successes until an 1893 role as Paula in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray launched her career and garnered high praise in the press.

The following year, the family flush with Mrs. Patrick’s success, Patrick returned to England in poor health and poorer fortunes. His state ensured that Mrs. Patrick would continue on the stage to support her family in the comfort to which they had become accustomed. She performed in generally well-received plays by Henrik Ibsen, William Shakespeare, Victorien Sardou, François Coppée, Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Maurice Maeterlinck. At the end of the century, Mrs. Patrick began her own management company and following the death of her husband in the South African War, she toured with it through Europe and America. Mrs. Patrick continued her stage career, dabbling in Hollywood productions and lecturing on acting and voice until the end of her life in 1940, when she passed away in France. Mrs. Patrick is particularly remembered for her role as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion, a part written for her by George Bernard Shaw, with whom she also had significant correspondence.

Bertha von Zastrow was the daughter of Mrs. Bertha von Zastrow, a Hungarian born actress who performed under her maiden name, Bertha Gross, and Mrs. von Zastrow’s second husband, Hermann von Zastrow . Miss von Zastrow came as a child of two to the United States from Germany with her mother in 1887 and settled in Warren, Pennsylvania where they lived until 1900. From Warren, the mother and daughter moved to New York City where they lived together until Mrs. von Zastrow’s death in 1938.

Miss von Zastrow apparently never married. In her letters, Mrs. Patrick inquires after and offers her good wishes to a man named Paul whose assistance was sometimes enlisted through Miss von Zastrow for several tasks on behalf of Mrs. Patrick. Paul may have lived with Miss von Zastrow and her mother for some years.

Miss von Zastrow was politically active, particularly in the women’s suffrage movement, and had a role on the Executive Committee of the German-American Suffrage Association along with Mrs. Charles Knoblauch, 1875-1950 ( Mary Bookstaver ) and Katherine Sophie Dreier, 1877-1952, who was the Committee’s chairperson. Miss von Zastrow also acted, which is likely how she and Mrs. Patrick met one another. The two played together in some productions. The women were certainly friendly, but Miss von Zastrow also seemed to take on the role of assistant to Mrs. Patrick and was sometimes compensated for it. Money and the “pinch of poverty” felt by both women at different points throughout their correspondence was a common topic. Miss von Zastrow’s finances were particularly strained in the years prior to World War II and she suffered ill health during those years as well. Miss von Zastrow lived in New York City until at least 1954.