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Mary Belle EllisBritish actress
Date of Birth: 15.06.1897
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of May Bell Ellis
May Bell Ellis, a British actress, was a star of the British stage known for her remarkable longevity. Possessing a soprano voice of rare beauty, she performed at the Metropolitan Opera, including alongside Enrico Caruso, and on Broadway, preferring musicals. Unfortunately, May Bell Ellis could not showcase herself as a musical or dramatic film actress, but her versatility on stage allowed her to play a wide range of roles, from classical tragedies by Shakespeare and plays by Nobel laureate Eugene O'Neill to comedies by Sheridan and operettas by Oscar Hammerstein, the author of many Broadway hits.
Early Life
May Bell Elsas was born on June 15, 1897, in New York City, where her family, of modest means, had immigrated from Alsace. Her father later became a prosperous paper merchant, while her mother focused on raising the children. May inherited her creative abilities from her mother, who was a talented pianist. Before discovering her beautiful voice, May aspired to become an artist and studied painting. Additionally, May grew up as a true beauty with classical features and beautiful eyes. Vocal lessons with the renowned teacher Madame Ashworth transformed May into a performer with the potential to become a great classical singer, and the Metropolitan Opera offered her a long-term contract when she was just 21 years old. She took the stage name Mary Ellis and made her debut in 1918 with the role of Sister Genovieffa in Puccini's opera "Suor Angelica". In 1919, she played the role of Myrtilla in "The Blue Bird" and sang in "Boris Godunov" and other productions. Perhaps the highlights of her short operatic career were her performances alongside the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso in Donizetti's opera "L'Elisir d'Amore" on Christmas Eve in 1920 (Caruso passed away the following year) and in "Louise" by Gustave Charpentier with the renowned prima donna Geraldine Farrar. However, in 1922, she left the Metropolitan Opera to pursue a career as a professional actress - May not only wanted to sing but also to act. May joined the theater company of John Barrymore and made her first Broadway appearance in a production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice". With her beauty and captivating stage presence, May went on to perform in "Casanova" and "The Gothamite", but she truly became a star after playing the leading role in Rudolf Friml's operetta "Rose-Marie" in 1924. Driven by her impulsive nature, May decided to leave the show to avoid signing an exclusive contract with Hammerstein. She was warned that it would bring her career troubles and she would never be able to become a singer again in America, but May took the risk. She was forced to return to the world of high drama and occasionally appeared on Broadway alongside British actor Basil Sydney, including playing Katharina in "The Taming of the Shrew" in 1927. In 1929, Sydney became her third husband (her first two marriages ended quickly). During that time, she also played Becky Sharp in "Vanity Fair". Her former producers kept their promise, and realizing that she couldn't break free from the professional limitations imposed on her, Ellis moved to London with her husband in 1931. She immediately achieved success by starring in Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude" the following year. Additionally, May became a muse for Ivor Novello, resulting in successful collaborations in musicals such as "The Dancing Years" and "The Triumphant Arch". In England, May had the opportunity to appear in several films, but in 1937 she stopped making movies, seeing no particular prospects for herself in the film industry. In the 1950s, Ellis played a few roles on television, but her most notable film work was her role in "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" - the series was released when the actress was already 97 years old! Her marriage to Sydney ended after a few years, and in 1938, the actress married for the fourth and final time to Scottish mountaineer Jock Muir Stewart Roberts. Their married life was very happy, but in 1950, Roberts died during a climb - he was passionate about mountaineering. During the war, May Ellis volunteered as a nurse in a hospital, and after the war, she returned to the theater and shone on the stage of the Old Vic Theatre in productions of "John Gabriel Borkman", "School for Scandal", "The Browning Version", and "Hattie Stowe", in which she played Harriet Beecher Stowe. In 1946, May Ellis became a British citizen. She did not have any children.
After the tragic death of her fourth husband, she performed less and less, and in 1970, she made her final stage appearance in the play "Mrs. Warren's Profession". In the 1980s, Ellis published two autobiographies, "The Dancing Years" and "Moments of Triumph", and in the 1990s, she appeared in two episodes of a Sherlock Holmes television series. On January 30, 2003, May Ellis passed away at the age of 105 in London.
