Phyllis Dare

Infobox Actor
name = Phyllis Dare


caption = Phyllis Dare in "The Belle of Mayfair"
birthname = Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones
birthdate = birth date|1890|8|15
location = London, England
deathdate = death date and age|1975|4|27|1890|8|15
deathplace = East Sussex, England

Phyllis Dare (August 15 1890 – April 27 1975) was an English singer and actress who was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century.

Life and career

Dare was born Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones in Chelsea, London, England, in 1890. Her father, Arthur Albert Dones, was a divorce clerk, and her mother was Harriette Amelia Wheeler. Dare was the youngest of three children. Her sister, Zena, three and a half years her senior, also became a well-known musical comedy actress. They had a brother named Jack. [ [http://www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/th-main.html Information from the Stage Beauty website] ]

Early career

Dare's first performance on stage was in 1899, at the age of nine, in the Christmas pantomime "Babes in the Woods" at the Coronet Theatre in London. Her sister Zena was also cast in this production, and they both adopted the surname of Dare. The next year, Phyllis was cast as Christina in a production of "Ib and Little Christina" at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, and she ended the year in the Christmas pantomime "Little Red Riding Hood" in Manchester. In 1901, she played one of the children in "The Wilderness", and Seymour Hicks and Ellaline Terriss cast her as Mab in their musical "Bluebell in Fairyland". The following Christmas, she performed in a production of "The Forty Thieves". [http://www.collectorspost.com/cgi-bin/ShopLoader.cgi?Actors/phyllis_dare.html Information from the Collectors' Post webpages] ]

Dare took a few years off to concentrate on her studies. During this period, in March 1903, she received a marriage proposal from Lord Dalmeny. His family did not approve and had the young nobleman rapidly shipped off to Scotland. [ [http://www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/th-frames.html?http&&&www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/th-peerge.html Information about Dalmeny and other links between actresses and noble suitors] ] When her sister Zena received a proposal from Maurice Brett, the second son of Lord Esher, his family approved, and the two married in 1911.

In 1905, just after her fifteenth birthday, Dare took over the starring role of Angela in "The Catch of the Season" from Terriss. The role had been created by Dare's sister Zena. Dare next appeared in a pantomime of "Cinderella" in Newcastle. She left the stage abruptly and travelled to a Belgian convent to continue her studies. A rumour circulated that her sudden departure was a result of a pregnancy. In any event, she returned to London with her father in haste in 1906 to take over the title role, on short notice, of Julia Chaldicott, in "The Belle of Mayfair" when Edna May left the cast at the Vaudeville Theatre. Just 16 years old, the role established her as a major performer in London. [ [http://gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextD/PhyllisDare002.html Photos and information, together with anecdotes from Dare's autobiography about her taking over the role on short notice] ]

tar of musicals

In 1907, Dare published her autobiography "From School to Stage". In the same year, she starred as the Sandow Girl in a provincial tour of "The Dairymaids" and again starred in the Christmas pantomime "Cinderella". In 1908, Dare returned to "The Dairymaids" at the Adelphi Theatre for two months. [ [http://gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextD/PhyllisDare001.html Photo of Dare in "The Dairymaids", together with an anecdote by her about receiving an offer of marriage from a fan of her performance] ] At the same theatre, she reprised her role as "Cinderella".

" at the Gaiety and then on tour (1912-13, as Delia Dale). She left "The Sunshine Girl" in 1913 to join the cast of "The Dancing Mistress", as Nancy Joyce, at the Adelphi Theatre.

" at the Prince of Wales's (1914 revival, as Sally Hook) and "Tina" at the Adelphi (1915, as Tina). He also dedicated his most famous song, "I Love the Moon" to her. [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp55405 Information from the NPG website] ] During the run of Tina, Dare became engaged to Rubens. Their engagement ended when Rubens became very ill with consumption. He died in 1917 at the age of 40. [http://www.philcoradio.com/zena/phylbio.htm Information from the Zena Dare webpages] ]

Later years

Dare performed on stage rarely for the next few years, appearing in "Hanky-Panky" at the Empire Theatre in 1917. She returned to the stage in 1919 as Lucienne Touquet in "Kissing Time" at the Winter Garden and then played Princess Badr-al-budur in "Aladdin" in 1920 at the Hippodrome, London. She continued to star in successful productions throughout the 1920s, including as Mariana in "The Lady of the Rose" at Daly's Theatre (1922), as Yvette in "The Street Singer" (1924; 360 performances at the Lyric Theatre and on tour), and as Fay Blake in Rogers and Hart's "Lido Lady" at the Gaiety Theatre (1926), in which she introduced the song "Atlantic Blues." She then turned to straight plays. Some of these included "Aren't We All" (1929) "Words and Music" (1932), and "The Fugitives" (1936).

Dare also appeared in a few films including the silent "The Argentine Tango and Other Dances" (1913), "Dr. Wake's Patient" (1916) and "The Common Law" (1923), "Crime on the Hill" (1933), "Debt of Honor" (1936), "Marigold" (1938) and "Gildersleeve on Broadway" (1943). [See [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0201141/ this information from the IMDB database] and [http://www.cyranos.ch/spdare-e.htm this from the Silent Movie site] .] A thoroughbred horse was named after Dare in 1920. [ [http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/phyllis+dare Phyllis Dare, thoroughbred] ]

In 1940, for the first time in over four decades, Zen and Phyliss Dare shared the stage in a tour of "Full House", in which Dare played Lola Leadenhall. In 1941-42, she was Juliet Maddock in "Other People's Houses", and in 1946 she played the Marchioness of Mereston in "Lady Frederick" at the Savoy Theatre. In 1949, Dare opened as Marta the mistress in Ivor Novello's musical, "King's Rhapsody", again with her sister Zena. The show ran for two years and was Dare's last theatrical endeavour.

Dare retired to Brighton, England, at the age of 61, where she died at the age of 84. Her sister had died only six weeks earlier.

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0201141/ Phyllis Dare on IMDB]
* [http://www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/dare/dare-p.html Photos gallery and a bio]
* [http://www.users.waitrose.com/~victorian/post/index.htm More photos of Dare]
* [http://www.its-behind-you.com/gallery007.html Phyllis Dare as Cinderella, c. 1907]
* [http://www.amazon.com/Rodgers-Hart-Vol-1-Richard/dp/B0000542HE Listen to a sample of a recording by Phyllis Dare]
* [http://members.tripod.com/FootlightNotes/ Photo of Dare around the time she played Little Christina]