Ellen Kean

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Ellen Kean

Ellen Kean , b. Tree ( December 12, 1805 , † August 20, 1880 in London ) was a British actress .

Life

Ellen Kean with her husband Charles in Macbeth (1858)

Eleonora Tree was the daughter of an official in the British East India Company ; she had three more sisters, all of whom also became actresses.

At the age of 17 she made her debut under the stage name Ellen Tree in 1822 as Olivia in the comedy " Was ihr wollt " ( William Shakespeare ). She then had several engagements at various smaller provincial theaters. But it wasn't until she became a member of the Drury Lane Theater ensemble in 1826 that she celebrated her artistic breakthrough.

Tree was then engaged at the Haymarket Theater, where she also shone. A major tour through Germany and the USA followed . In 1842 she married her colleague, the actor Charles Kean . When her husband died in 1868, Ellen Kean withdrew from the stage and settled in Bayswater, London. She lived there until her death on August 20, 1880. She was buried next to her husband in the Catherington Cemetery , Hampshire .

obituary

The Times noted in Ellen Kean's obituary:

... Mrs. Kean is not to be numbered with the greatest votaries of the English stage, but her acting was distinguished by considerable power, tenderness and refinement.

Roles (selection)

literature

  • William G. Lawson (Eds.): Letters of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean, relating to their American tours . University Press, St. Louis, Wed. 1945.

Web links

Commons : Ellen Kean  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Kean, Ellen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tree, Ellen; Tree, Eleonora (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1805
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1880
Place of death London