Constance Collier | |
|---|---|
 Collier in the trailer forStage Door (1937) | |
| Born | Laura Constance Hardie (1878-01-22)22 January 1878 Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 25 April 1955(1955-04-25) (aged 77) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1894–1949 |
| Spouse | |
Constance Collier (bornLaura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach.[1] She wrote plays and films withIvor Novello and she was the first person to be treated withinsulin in Europe.
Born Laura Constance Hardie inWindsor, Berkshire to Auguste Cheetham Hardie and Eliza Georgina Collier, Constance Collier made her stage debut at the age of three, when she played Fairy Peasblossom inA Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1893, at the age of 15, she joined theGaiety Girls, the famous dance troupe based at theGaiety Theatre in London.[2] In 1905, Collier married English actor Julian Boyle (stage nameJulian L'Estrange).[3] She was known to be very tall with a big personality. On 27 December 1906,Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's extravagant revival ofAntony and Cleopatra opened atHis Majesty's Theatre, with Tree asMark Antony and Collier asCleopatra.[4]
Famed for his realistic productions, Tree and his designer,Percy Macquoid, dressed Collier in elaborate costumes. Later, Collier commented: "There is only a mention in the play of Cleopatra appearing as the goddess Isis. Tree elaborated this into a great tableau... Cleopatra, robed in silver, crowned in silver, carrying a golden scepter and the symbol of the sacred golden calf in her hand, went in procession through the streets ofAlexandria, the ragged, screaming populace acclaiming the Queen, half in hate, half in superstitious fear and joy as she made her sacrilegious ascent to her high throne in the market-place."[4]
At this point, Collier was an established actress. In January 1908, she starred with Beerbohm Tree at His Majesty's Theatre inJ. Comyns Carr's new playThe Mystery of Edwin Drood, based onCharles Dickens's unfinished novel of the same name. Later that year, she made the first of several tours of the United States. During the second, made with Beerbohm Tree in 1916, she made four silent films, including an uncredited appearance inD. W. Griffith'sIntolerance (she can be seen being carried through the entrance to the city in the Babylonian part of the film) and as Lady Macbeth in Tree'sdisastrous first film interpretation of Shakespeare'sMacbeth.[4]
In 1918, her husband died from influenza while they were in New York. Following his death she returned to England. No children were born from the marriage.[3]
In the early 1920s, she established a close friendship with the actorIvor Novello. They both appeared in the silent filmThe Bohemian Girl in 1922 withGladys Cooper andEllen Terry.[3] They wrote together under the pen name "James Lestrange". Around the same time, Collier became seriously ill fromdiabetes and treatment proved expensive.[3] She was sent to Switzerland for treatment in 1923 then taken to a doctor in Strasbourg. She was the first patient in Europe ever to be treated with the druginsulin following its recent discovery byFrederick Banting and others in Toronto.[5][6] Fully recovered, she played the Duchesse de Surennes in Somerset Maugham's comedyOur Betters, and in the following year, collaborated with Ivor Novello on a play calledThe Rat.[3] She also appeared in several plays with him, including the British version of the American play,The Firebrand byEdwin Justus Mayer.[4] In 1924, Collier introduced Novello to the poetSiegfried Sassoon, with whom she had a six-month affair. While Sassoon destroyed his diary for this period, his unhappiness over their relationship became well-known, and according to his biographer Jean Moorcroft Wilson, it 'pitched him into [what he referred to as] an "unblinking hell"'.[7]
Collier's writing career is notable for her collaboration withDeems Taylor on the libretto of the operaPeter Ibbetson, which was premiered at theMetropolitan Opera in February 1931 and which received mixed reviews. In 1935, upon her arrival in Hollywood,Luise Rainer hired Collier to improve Rainer's theatre acting and English, and to learn the basics of film acting.
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In the late 1920s Collier relocated to Hollywood where she became a voice coach and teacher in diction. This was during the tumultuous changeover from silent films to sound and manysilent actors with no theatre training were scrambling for lessons.
Her most famous pupil was arguablyColleen Moore, which was documented in an interview by film historianKevin Brownlow for the seriesHollywood (1980) about the silent film era. Collier nevertheless maintained ties to Broadway and appeared in several plays in the 1930s.In 1932 Collier starred as Carlotta Vance in the original production ofGeorge S. Kaufman andEdna Ferber's comedyDinner at Eight. The role was played in the1933 film version byMarie Dressler.
She appeared in the filmsStage Door (1937),Mitchell Leisen'sKitty (1945, a comedic performance as Lady Susan, the drunken aunt ofRay Milland),Perils of Pauline withBetty Hutton,Alfred Hitchcock'sRope (1948) andOtto Preminger'sWhirlpool (1949).[4]
During the making of the film version ofStage Door, she became great friends withKatharine Hepburn, a friendship that lasted the rest of Collier's life.
Collier was presented with the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre Award for distinguished service in training and guiding actors in Shakespearean roles. Collier was a drama coach for many famous actors, includingAudrey Hepburn,Vivien Leigh andMarilyn Monroe.[8] She coachedKatharine Hepburn during Hepburn's world tour performing Shakespeare in the 1950s. Upon Collier's death in 1955, Hepburn "inherited" Collier's secretary Phyllis Wilbourn, who remained with Hepburn as her secretary for 40 years.
Collier has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.
Collier died of a heart attack inManhattan on 25 April 1955 at the age of 77.[9]
Silent
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | The Tongues of Men | Jane Bartlett | Incomplete film |
| The Code of Marcia Gray | Marcia Gray | ||
| Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | Lost film | |
| Intolerance | Extra | Uncredited | |
| 1919 | The Impossible Woman | Mme. Kraska | |
| 1920 | Bleak House | Lady Dedlock | |
| 1922 | The Bohemian Girl | Queen | Incomplete film |
Sound
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Shadow of Doubt | Aunt Melissa Pilson | |
| Anna Karenina | Countess Lidia | Uncredited | |
| Professional Soldier | Lady Augusta | ||
| 1936 | Little Lord Fauntleroy | Lady Lorridaile | |
| Girls' Dormitory | Professor Augusta Wimmer | ||
| 1937 | Thunder in the City | The Duchess | |
| Wee Willie Winkie | Mrs. Allardyce | ||
| Clothes and the Woman | Eugenia | ||
| Stage Door | Miss Luther | ||
| A Damsel in Distress | Lady Caroline | ||
| 1939 | Zaza | Nathalie | |
| 1940 | Half a Sinner | Mrs. Jefferson Breckenbridge | |
| Susan and God | Lady Wigstaff | ||
| 1945 | Kitty | Lady Susan Dowitt | |
| 1946 | The Dark Corner | Mrs. Kingsley | |
| Monsieur Beaucaire | The Queen of France | ||
| 1947 | The Perils of Pauline | Julia Gibbs | |
| An Ideal Husband | Lady Markby | ||
| 1948 | Rope | Mrs. Anita Atwater | |
| The Girl from Manhattan | Mrs. Brooke | ||
| 1950 | Whirlpool | Tina Cosgrove | Final film role |
New York – (AP) — Constance Collier, former actress who had played many roles in the theatre world both on and off the stage, died yesterday after a heart attack at the age of 77.
Met Opera archives with quotes from various music critics on the premier of Peter Ibettson
