Tree, Viola (1884–1938)

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Tree, Viola (1884–1938)

English actress, singer and playwright. Born July 17, 1884, in London, England; died Nov 15, 1938, of pleurisy in London; dau. of Herbert Beerbohm Tree (actor- director and founder of RADA) and Maud Holt Tree (actress); m. Alan Parsons.

Made London debut as Viola in her father's production of Twelfth Night (1904); appeared as Eurydice in Gluck's opera Orpheus to great success (1912); assumed the management of the Aldwych (1919–20, 1921), appearing there in Sacred and Profane Love, Pygmalion, The Tempest, and Olivia; other plays include Agatha, A Woman of No Importance, Hamlet (as Ophelia), Loyalty, The Truth Game, Strange Orchestra, Fresh Fields, Jill Darling and Symphony in Two Flats; appeared in such films as Unmarried, For the Love of Mike and Heart's Desire; co-wrote with Gerald Du Maurier the play The Dancers and wrote The Swallow (Everyman, 1925).

See also reminiscences Castles in the Air (1926).