Phyllis Dare (15 August 1890 – 27 April 1975) was an English singer and actress who was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century.
Life and career
Dare was born
Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones in
Chelsea, London, England, in 1890. Her father, Arthur Albert Dones, was a divorce clerk, and her mother was Harriette Amelia Wheeler. Dare was the youngest of three children. Her sister,
Zena, three and a half years her senior, also became a well-known musical comedy actress. They had a brother named Jack.
Early career
Dare's first performance on stage was in 1899, at the age of nine, in the Christmas
pantomime Babes in the Woods at the Coronet Theatre in London. Her sister Zena was also cast in this production, and they both adopted the surname of Dare. The next year, Phyllis was cast as Little Christina in a production of
Ib and Little Christina at the
Prince of Wales's Theatre, the same year repeating the role at the Coronet Theatre, and she ended the year in the Christmas pantomime
Little Red Riding Hood in Manchester. In 1901, she played one of the children in
The Wilderness, and
Seymour Hicks and
Ellaline Terriss cast her as Mab in their musical
Bluebell in Fairyland. The following Christmas, she performed in a production of
The Forty Thieves.
Dare took a few years off to concentrate on her studies. During this period, in March 1903, she received a marriage proposal from Lord Dalmeny. His family did not approve and had the young nobleman rapidly shipped off to Scotland. When her sister Zena received a proposal from Maurice Brett, the second son of Lord Esher, his family approved, and the two married in 1911.
In 1905, just after her fifteenth birthday, Dare took over the starring role of Angela in The Catch of the Season from Terriss. The role had been created by Dare's sister Zena. Dare next appeared in a pantomime of Cinderella in Newcastle. She left the stage abruptly and travelled to a Belgian convent to continue her studies. A rumour circulated that her sudden departure was a result of a pregnancy.
Star of musicals
In 1907, Dare published her autobiography
From School to Stage. In the same year, she starred as the Sandow Girl in a provincial tour of
The Dairymaids and again starred in the Christmas pantomime
Cinderella. In 1908, Dare returned to
The Dairymaids at the
Adelphi Theatre for two months. At the same theatre, she reprised her role as
Cinderella.
]]In 1909, Dare created the role of Eileen Cavanagh in the hit musical The Arcadians at the Original Shaftesbury Theatre. A review from Playgoer and Society Illustrated noted, "Miss Phyllis Dare does everything that is expected of her; she dances nicely, sings sweetly and looks pretty...." This was an extraordinarily long-running musical, playing for 809 performances, and Dare stayed for the entire run. The musical marked the beginning of Dare's association with producer George Edwardes, and she went on to star in several more of his productions in the next three years, including The Girl in the Train at the Vaudeville Theatre (1910, as Gonda van der Loo), Peggy at the Gaiety Theatre (1911, as Peggy), The Quaker Girl in Paris (1911, as Prudence) and The Sunshine Girl at the Gaiety and then on tour (1912-13, as Delia Dale). She left The Sunshine Girl in 1913 to join the cast of The Dancing Mistress, as Nancy Joyce, at the Adelphi Theatre. During the run of Tina, Dare became engaged to Rubens. Their engagement ended when Rubens became very ill with consumption. He died in 1917 at the age of 41.
Later years
Dare performed on stage rarely for the next few years, appearing in
Hanky-Panky at the
Empire Theatre in 1917. She returned to the stage in 1919 as Lucienne Touquet in
Kissing Time at the Winter Garden and then played Princess Badr-al-budur in
Aladdin in 1920 at the
Hippodrome, London. She continued to star in successful productions throughout the 1920s, including as Mariana in
The Lady of the Rose at
Daly's Theatre (1922), as Yvette in
The Street Singer (1924; 360 performances at the
Lyric Theatre and on tour), and as Fay Blake in
Rogers and Hart's
Lido Lady at the Gaiety Theatre (1926), in which she introduced the song "Atlantic Blues." A thoroughbred horse was named after Dare in 1920.
In 1940, for the first time in over four decades, Zen and Phyliss Dare shared the stage in a tour of Full House, in which Dare played Lola Leadenhall. In 1941-42, she was Juliet Maddock in Other People's Houses, and in 1946 she played the Marchioness of Mereston in Lady Frederick at the Savoy Theatre.[ In 1949, Dare opened as Marta the mistress in Ivor Novello's musical, King's Rhapsody, again with her sister Zena. The show ran for two years and was Dare's last theatrical endeavour.]
Dare retired to Brighton, England, at the age of 61, where she died at the age of 84. Her sister had died only six weeks earlier.
References
External links
Phyllis Dare on IMDB
Photos gallery and a bio
More photos of Dare
Phyllis Dare as Cinderella, c. 1907
Listen to a sample of a recording by Phyllis Dare
Photo of Dare around the time she played Little Christina
Category:1890 births
Category:1975 deaths
Category:English actors
Category:English female singers
Category:People from Chelsea
