Olga Nethersole | |
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| Born | Olga Isabella Nethersole (1866-01-18)18 January 1866 London, England |
| Died | 9 January 1951(1951-01-09) (aged 84) |
| Occupations | Actress, producer, nurse, educator |
| Years active | 1887-1951 |
Olga Isabella Nethersole,CBE,RRC (18 January 1866[1] – 9 January 1951) was an English actress, theatre producer, and wartime nurse and health educator.
Olga Isabella Nethersole was born inLondon, ofSpanish descent on her mother's side. Her step-father was Henry Nethersole, asolicitor. She made her stage début atTheatre Royal, Brighton in 1887.[2] In 1888, Nethersole began playing important parts in London, at first underRutland Barrington andJohn Hare at theGarrick Theatre.[3]
Nethersole toured Australia and the United States playing leading parts in modern plays, notablyClyde Fitch'sSapho, where she and her male costarHamilton Revelle were arrested for "violating public decency" for which she was later acquitted.[4][5] Her powerful emotional acting, however, made a great effect in some other plays, such asCarmen, in which she again appeared in America in 1906.[3][6]
In 1904, Nethersole portrayed the lead role inLa seconde madame Tanqueray at theOdéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris.[7] Then she was at theThéâtre Sarah-Bernhardt inMagda,Sapho,Adrienne Lecouvreur, and an adaptation of a French play byEugène Scribe andErnest Legouvé,Camille, an adaptation of a French playLa Dame aux Camélias,[8] andThe Spanish Gipsy, an adaptation of the French playCarmen de Mérimée in 1907.[9] Every summer, Nethersole spent a week at the house of playwrightEdmond Rostand in Cambo les Bains. In 1907, she performed Rostand’s playLa Samaritaine an English version of it to play it in London.[10] In a conference at theThéâtre de l'Athénée on 17 November 1908, Robert Eude said that Olga Nethersole invented the soul kiss (an especially long kiss, of which actressMaude Adams was the recordwoman).[11]
Nethersole inspired the character of "Miss Nethersoll", an American dancer, in the French novelLa Danseuse nue et la Dame a la licorne by Rachel Gaston-Charles (1908).[12]
DuringWorld War I, Nethersole served as a nurse in London and later established thePeople's League of Health, for which she received theRoyal Red Cross (RRC) in 1920.[5] She combined her theatre work with health work for the rest of her life. She was created aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1936.
On 9 January 1951, Nethersole died inBournemouth, England at the age of 84.[5][13] Her brother, Louis F. Nethersole, was a theatrical manager, producer and press agent and one-time husband of the American actress and singer,Sadie Martinot.[14]
Between 1885 and 1890, Olga Nethersole’s portrait was painted inOmaha, Nebraska by artistHerbert A. Collins.[15]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nethersole, Olga".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 421.During one performance, Olga Nethersole was placed under arrest for "violating public decency." Her trial transfixed the city for weeks.
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