“British Acting Legend ” Charles Kelly Hand Signed 4X4.5 Card Todd Mueller COA

Description

Up for auction a RARE!
“British Acting Legend ” Charles Kelly Hand Signed 4X4.5 Card.
This is the only known signed item to come to auction in the last 30 years as most of Kelly's items are house in British Museums and collections. This item is authenticated By Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their certificate of authenticity.
ES-2558C
Ellen Terry
, in full
Alice Ellen Terry
, (born February 27, 1847,
Coventry
, Warwickshire, England—died July 21, 1928, Small Hythe, Kent), English actress who became one of the most popular stage performers in both Great Britain and
North America
. For 24 years (1878–1902) she worked as the leading lady of
Sir Henry Irving
in one of the most famous partnerships in the theatre. In the 1890s she began her famous “paper courtship” with
George Bernard Shaw
, one of the most brilliant correspondences in the history of English letter writing. Terry was the second surviving daughter in a large family of which several members were to become well known on the stage. She had no formal schooling, but, trained by her parents, she rapidly developed into a celebrated child actress. At the age of nine she made her
debut
in the child’s part of Mamillius in
The Winter’s Tale,
which
Charles Kean
, son of the actor
Edmund Kean
, produced in London in April 1856. She remained in Kean’s company until 1859 and later joined the
stock company
performing at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, where she played leading parts in Shakespeare and in
repertory theatre
.
In 1864, at the age of 16, she left the stage to marry the painter
G.F. Watts
, whose model she had been. Watts, a neurotic man almost three times her age, made many fine portraits and sketches of her, but the marriage survived a bare 10 months. In her despair Terry could scarcely be
induced
to return to the stage, but she eventually did so, though playing with little of her former distinction. It was in 1867 that she first appeared, by chance, with Sir Henry Irving, playing Katherina in
The Taming of the Shrew
The following year she left the stage abruptly to live for six years in Hertfordshire with the architect and theatrical designer Edward
Godwin
(1833–86), whom she had met in Bristol and who became the father of her children, Edith and
Edward Gordon Craig
(1872–1966). Edward was to become a renowned actor, stage designer, and producer. When her association with Godwin began to fail, it was the author, dramatist, and producer
Charles Reade
who found her and brought her back to the stage. In the role of Portia she showed new maturity in a striking production of
The Merchant of Venice
(1875), designed by Godwin. On parting from Godwin (who married in 1876), she became responsible for rearing their children. Before joining Irving at the
Lyceum Theatre
in 1878, she completed a successful season at the Court Theatre. In 1877 she received a divorce from Watts and married an actor, Charles
Kelly, mainly to give her children a “name.” They soon separated, and Kelly died in 1885.