Mrs Patrick Campbell

Mrs Patrick Campbell (February 9 1865 - April 9 1940) was a British stage actress, the most successful of her generation.

She was born Beatrice Stella Tanner in Kensington, London, of English and Italian parents. She made her stage debut in 1888, four years after her marriage to Patrick Campbell, and became successful as a result of starring in Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's play, The Second Mrs Tanqueray, in 1893.

Fourteen years after the death of her first husband in 1900, she became the second wife of George Cornwallis-West (born 1874) -- a dashing writer previously married to Jennie Jerome, the mother of Winston Churchill -- but she continued to use "Mrs Patrick Campbell" as her stage name. In 1914, she played Eliza Doolittle in the original production of Shaw's Pygmalion; though much too old for the part, she was the obvious choice, being by far the biggest name on the London stage.

In her later years, Mrs Patrick Campbell made notable appearances in motion pictures, including "One More River" (1934), "Rip Tide" (1934), and "Crime and Punishment" (1935). She died in Pau, France.

She and her first husband had two children, Beo and Stella.

Siân Phillips portrayed Mrs Patrick Campbell in the 1975 miniseries "Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill," which starred Lee Remick.

Quotes

• On homosexuals: "Does it really matter what these affectionate people do, so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses?"
• On success: "Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm."
• To the loquacious George Bernard Shaw: "When you were quite a little boy, somebody ought to have said 'hush' just once."
• On actress Norma Shearer: "She has such pretty little eyes. And they're so close together!"