Langtry, Lillie

Langtry, Lillie, 1853–1929, English actress, b. Jersey, Channel Islands; known as the Jersey Lily. One of the first English women of elevated social rank to go on the stage, she made her debut at the Haymarket theater in 1881 after her husband, a diplomat, failed financially. Never considered a great actress, Langtry was noted for her great beauty and for her affair with Edward VII. Oscar Wilde wrote Lady Windermere's Fan for her. In 1899 she married Sir Hugo Gerald de Bathe.

Bibliography

See her memoirs, The Days I Knew (1925); P. Sichel, The Jersey Lily (1958).

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Langtry, Lillie

 orig. Emilie Charlotte Le Breton

Lillie Langtry

(credit: Mansell Collection)

(born Oct. 13, 1853, Isle of Jersey, Channel Islands—died Feb. 12, 1929, Monte-Carlo, Monaco) British actress. She married the socially prominent Edward Langtry in 1874 and later became known as the “Jersey Lily.” A famous beauty, she caused a sensation when she became the first society woman to go on the stage, starring in She Stoops to Conquer (1881). She played to enthusiastic audiences in England and the U.S., notably in As You Like It. Her lovers included the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). After her husband died, she married Hugo de Bathe (1899), and she later remodeled and managed the Imperial Theatre in London (1901–17).