Siddons Sarah

Siddons Sarah [née Kemble] (1755–1831), English actress. The eldest of the 12 children of an actor-manager in the provinces, she spent her childhood travelling with his company, and at the age of 18 married William Siddons (1744–1808), also a member of the company. They played together in the provinces, returning there in 1775 after Mrs Siddons had made a first and unsuccessful appearance at Drury Lane under Garrick, and were seen in York with Tate Wilkinson and Bath. A second appearance by Mrs Siddons in London in 1782 was more successful, and she was soon acclaimed as a tragic actress without equal, a position she maintained until the end of her career. She began, however, at the zenith of her powers, and unlike her brother John Philip Kemble did not improve with age. Among her early parts were Isabella in Southerne's The Fatal Marriage, Belvidera in Otway's Venice Preserv'd, and the title-role in Rowe's Jane Shore. Later she proved outstanding as Constance in King John, Zara in Congreve's The Mourning Bride, and above all as Lady Macbeth, the part in which she made her farewell appearance in 1812. She returned in 1819 to play Lady Randolph in Home's Douglas for the benefit of her younger brother Charles Kemble, but was only the shadow of her former self. In her heyday critics were unanimous in their praise of her beauty, tenderness, and nobility. A superbly built and extremely dignified woman, with a rich, resonant voice and great amplitude of gesture, she wisely refused to appear in comedy. Her intelligence and good judgement made her the friend of such men as Dr Johnson. Painters, including Gainsborough, delighted in painting her, Reynolds immortalizing her in 1784 as ‘The Tragic Muse’. She had seven children, four girls dying in infancy.