Eva Moore
Eva Moore (9 February 1870 – 27 April 1955) was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement.
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[edit] Early life and career
Moore was born and educated in Brighton. In 1891 she married the actor Henry V. Esmond (d. 1922). They had two children, Jack and Jill (the actress Jill Esmond, first wife of Laurence Olivier). Eva was the daughter of Edmund Henry Moore by his spouse Emily née Strachan. Her sister was the actress Decima Moore.
Moore made her first stage appearance at London's Vaudeville Theatre on 15 December 1887, as Varney in Proposals. She next joined Toole's company and appeared at Toole's Theatre on 26 December of that year as the Spirit of Home in Dot. In 1892, she appeared as Minestra in The Mountebanks by W. S. Gilbert and Alfred Cellier. In 1894, she joined Charles Hawtrey and Lottie Venne in F. C. Burnand's A Gay Widow.[1] Other stage roles included Mabel Vaughn in The Wilderness (1901); Lady Ernestone in Esmond's My Lady Cirtue and Wilhelmina Marr in his Billy's Little Love Affair (both in 1903); and Kathie in Old Heidelberg (1902 and 1909) with George Alexander. In 1907 she took the name part in Sweet Kitty Bellaire (1907); and she played Mrs. Errol in Little Lord Fauntleroy and Mrs. Crowley in The Explorer in 1908, and the Hon. Mrs. Bayle in Best People and the Hon. Mrs. Rivers in The House Opposite in 1909.
[edit] Later years and films
Moore later managed the Henry V. Esmond comedy Eliza Comes to Stay, which opened at the Criterion Theatre on 12 February 1913, transferring to the Vaudeville, 6 July 1914. After World War I broke out, she continued acting at the Vaudeville in the evenings but worked as a volunteer for the Women's Emergency Corps, based at the Little Theatre, during the day. In October 1920, she and Esmond toured Canada with Nigel Bruce as their stage manager, who also played Montague Jordan in Eliza Comes to Stay, which re-opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London on 14 June 1923.[2] Moore was active in the suffrage movement (as was her sister Decima), attending meetings and appearing in suffragist plays and films.[3]
From 1920 to 1946, Moore made over two dozen films, beginning with The Law Divine (1920). Some of her best-received silent films were Flames of Passion (1922),The Crimson Circle (1922), The Great Well (1924), Chu-Chin-Chow (1925) and Motherland (1927). Her most popular 'talkies' included Almost a Divorce (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), Leave It to Smith (1933), I Was a Spy (1933), Jew Süss (1934), A Cup of Kindness (1934), Vintage Wine (1935), The Divorce of Lady X (1938), which starred her son-in-law Laurence Olivier, A Son Is Born (1946) and Of Human Bondage (1946).
Moore published her reminiscences under the title of Exits and Entrances. She died in Maidenhead, England, aged 85.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sharp, Robert Farquharson. A short history of the English stage, The Walter Scott publishing co., ltd., 1909
- ^ Joannou, Maroula. "Moore, Eva (1868–1955)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 10 February 2011
- ^ Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928, p. 424, Routledge (2001). ISBN 0-415-23926-5
[edit] References
- Parker, John (editor), Who's Who in the Theatre, 10th revised edition, London, 1947, pps: 1060 - 1062 and 1628.
[edit] External links
- Eva Moore at the Internet Movie Database
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
