McCarthy, Lillah

McCarthy, Lillah (1875–1960), English actress, who made her first appearance on the stage in 1895 and later in the year joined Ben Greet's company to play leading roles in Shakespeare. In 1896 she was with Wilson Barrett, playing Mercia in his play The Sign of the Cross, in which part she made her first appearance in the USA. She remained with him until 1904, when she joined Tree at Her (then His) Majesty's Theatre. It was then that she first met Shaw, who became her ardent admirer and a great friend; and for whom she played Nora in John Bull's Other Island, Ann Whitefield in the first public performance of Man and Superman (both 1905), Gloria in a revival of You Never Can Tell, and Jennifer Dubedat in The Doctor's Dilemma (both 1906). Also in 1906 she married Granville-Barker, who had directed all these plays at the Royal Court Theatre. In 1911 she took over the Little Theatre, where she presented Ibsen's The Master Builder, appearing in it as Hilda Wangel, and played Margaret Knox in the first production of Shaw's Fanny's First Play. In 1912 she was seen as Jocasta in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, with Martin-Harvey, and as Iphigenia in Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris. She created the part of Lavinia in Shaw's Androcles and the Lion in 1913. After divorcing Granville-Barker in 1918, she took over the management of the Kingsway Theatre. Her second marriage took her to Oxford and she virtually left the theatre.