Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

KEELEY, MARY ANNE (18o6–1899)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 712 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

KEELEY, See also:MARY See also:ANNE (18o6–1899) , See also:English actress, was See also:born at See also:Ipswich on the 22nd of See also:November 1805 or 18o6. Her See also:maiden name was Goward, her See also:father being a See also:brazier and tinman. After some experience in the provinces, she first appeared on the See also:stage in See also:London on the 2nd of See also:July 1825, in the See also:opera Rosina. It was not See also:long before she gave up " singing parts " in favour of the See also:drama proper, where her See also:powers of See also:character-acting could have See also:scope. In See also:June 1829 she married See also:Robert Keeley (1793–1869), an admirable comedian, with whom she had often appeared. Between 1832 and 1842 they acted at Covent See also:Garden, at the Adelphi with See also:Buckstone, at the Olympic with See also:Charles See also:Mathews, and at See also:Drury See also:Lane with See also:Macready. In 1836 they visited See also:America. In 1838 she made her first See also:great success as Nydia, the See also:blind girl, in a dramatized version of Bulwer See also:Lytton's The Last Days of See also:Pompeii, and followed this with an equally striking impersonation of Smike in See also:Nicholas Nickleby. In 1839 came her decisive See also:triumph with her picturesque and spirited acting as the See also:hero of a See also:play founded upon See also:Harrison See also:Ainsworth's See also:Jack See also:Sheppard. So dangerous was considered the popularity of the play, with its glorification of the See also:prison-breaking felon, that the See also:lord chamber-lain ultimately forbade the performance of any piece upon the subject. It is perhaps mainly as Jack Sheppard that Mrs Keeley lived in the memory of playgoers, despite her long subsequent career in plays more worthy of her remarkable gifts. Under Macready's management she played Nerissa in The See also:Merchant of See also:Venice, and Audrey in As You Like It.

She managed the See also:

Lyceum with her See also:husband from 1844 to 1847; acted with See also:Webster and See also:Kean at the Haymarket; returned for five years to the Adelphi; and made her last See also:regular public See also:appearance at the Lyceum in 1859. A public reception was given her at this See also:theatre on her 9oth birthday. She died on the 12th of See also:March 1899. See See also:Walter See also:Goodman, The Keeleys on the Stage and off (London, 1895).

End of Article: KEELEY, MARY ANNE (18o6–1899)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
KEEL 		[next]
KEELING ISLANDS (often called Cocos and Cocos-KEELI...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries