Kendal, Dame Madge

Kendal, Dame Madge [ Margaret Sholto Robertson] (1848–1935), English actress, twenty-second child of an actor-manager and the younger sister of T. W. Robertson. She first appeared on the stage at the age of 5, and in 1865 made her adult début as Ophelia in Hamlet. In 1874 she married William Hunter Kendal [ Grimston] (1843–1917), an English actor-manager who had made his first appearance on the stage in 1861 and had been playing at the Haymarket for eight years, taking leading parts in old and new plays. After their marriage their careers were inseparable. Together they went to the Royal Court Theatre under Hare, and after appearing with the Bancrofts at the Prince of Wales (later the Scala) Theatre in a revival of Boucicault's London Assurance in 1877 and in Diplomacy (1878), based by Clement Scott and B. C. Stephenson on Sardou's Dora, the Kendals went to the St James's in partnership with Hare, remaining with him until 1888 and playing leading roles in many productions. Under other managements they played together until they retired in 1908. Kendal was somewhat overshadowed by his wife's brilliance but was none the less a good reliable actor, better in comedy than in tragedy, and an excellent business manager. Mrs Kendal was a fine comédienne, though she could on occasion play in a more gentle mood, as in The Elder Miss Blossom (1898) by Ernest Hendrie and Metcalfe Wood, which she frequently revived and took on tour. The Kendals formed an ideal partnership, both on and off stage, and did much to raise the status of the acting profession.