Langtry, Lillie Charlotte

Langtry, Lillie Charlotte [ Emilie Charlotte Langtry née Le Breton] (1853–1929), English actress, daughter of the Dean of Jersey, known from her surpassing beauty as ‘the Jersey Lily’. She married at the age of 22 a wealthy Irishman and became prominent in London society, being an intimate friend of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). She was one of the first society women to go on the stage, making her début in 1881 under the Bancrofts at the Haymarket Theatre as Kate Hardcastle in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer. She caused a great sensation, more on account of her looks and social position than her acting, which for many years was not taken seriously by the critics. She eventually organized her own company and proved herself a good manageress, playing at the Imperial and other London theatres and touring the provinces and the United States. Although never a great actress, she became in time a good one, particularly in such parts as Rosalind in As You Like It and Lady Teazle in Sheridan's The School for Scandal.