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Ellen Alice Terry (February 27, 1847 – July
21, 1928) was an England|English stage
actor|actress. She was born Alice Ellen, but she
had reversed her names by the time of her first
marriage.

Born in Coventry, she came of a theatrical family,
her brother Fred Terry and several of her other
siblings being actors. She first appeared on stage
as a child. On 20 February 1864, shortly before
her 17th birthday, she married the painter George
Frederic Watts. However, the birth of her son,
Edward Gordon Craig, in 1872, was the result of a
liaison  with the progressive architect-designer
Edward William Godwin|E.W. Godwin, with whom she
retreated to Hertfordshire, temporarily retiring
from acting. The liaison cooled in 1874.

From 1874 she became the leading William
Shakespeare|Shakespearean actress in London, and
in partnership with Henry Irving became successful
in England and the USA.  In 1876 she married
Charles Kelly.  In 1903 she formed a theatre
management business with her son, abandoning
Irving.  She struck up a friendship and a famous
correspondence with George Bernard Shaw.  In 1907
she married American actor James Carew.  She
became a Dame Commander of the British Empire
(DBE) in 1925.

Her son Edward Gordon Craig became an important
actor, designer, and director; her nephew, Sir
John Gielgud, also became an actor.  The singer,
Helen Terry, is one of her descendants.

==External link==

*http://www.ellenterry.org/timeline.htm Timeline