May Whitty
Gender: Female
Born: 19th June 1865
Died: 29th May 1948
Nationality: England
Movies: Gaslight, Lassie Come Home, Mrs. Miniver, My Name is Julia Ross, Suspicion, The Lady Vanishes, Night Must Fall, Green Dolphin Street, Thunder Birds, The Constant Nymph, Crash Dive, Madame Curie, This Time for Keeps, Return to Yesterday, The Thirteenth Chair
Dame May Whitty, Mrs. Webster, DBE (19 June 1865 – 29 May 1948) was an English stage actress who appeared in numerous films in later life, achieving recognition in several character roles.
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire as Mary Louise Whitty, the daughter of William Alfred Whitty (c. 1837-1876) and Mary Louisa Ashton (c. 1837-1894), she made her first stage appearance in Liverpool in 1881, later moving to London to appear on the West End.
She married the actor-manager Ben Webster in 1892 in St Giles' Parish Church, London and in 1895 they visited the United States where Whitty appeared on Broadway. Their first child, a son, died at birth. Their only surviving child, a daughter born in the USA in 1905, Margaret Webster, was a stage actress and held dual US/UK citizenship. Whitty's stage career continued for the rest of her life. In March 1910, she made her transition to middle-aged and elderly character roles, playing Amelia Madras in Harley Granville-Barker's four act comedy The Madras House.
In 1918 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her charitable work during World War I. She is also the first film and stage actress to become a
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Internet Movie Database