Mary Ellis

Mary Ellis (born May Belle Elsas, June 15, 1897 – January 30, 2003) was an American actress and singer appearing on stage, radio, television and film, best known for her musical theatre roles, particularly in Ivor Novello works. After appearing with the Metropolitan Opera beginning in 1918, she acted on Broadway, creating the title role in Rose-Marie. In 1930, she emigrated to England, where she gained additional fame and continued to perform into the 1990s. She also became known for film roles, including in The 3 Worlds of Gulliver in 1960. Biography Ellis was born in Manhattan, New York City, to German parents, Herman Elsas and Caroline Elsas (née Reinhardt), who was a pianist. She first became interested in performing around 1910, and under a vocational course trained her lyric soprano under the tutelage of Belgian contralto Freida de Goebele and Italian operatic coach Fernando.Tanara. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera on December 14, 1918, in the world premiere of Puccini's Il trittico, creating the role of Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, the second of the evening's three one-act operas. Later in the run, she also played Lauretta in the third opera of the triptych, Gianni Schicchi. She also appeared in the premiere of L'oiseau bleu by Albert Wolff, singing Mytyl, in 1919. While in the Metropolitan company she sang Giannetta in L'elisir d'amore to Enrico Caruso's Nemorino and Fyodor in Boris Godunov to Feodor Chaliapin's Boris. On Broadway, Ellis played the roles of street urchin and errand girl in Louis in 1921, Nerissa in the 1922 production of Merchant of Venice and The Dancer from Milan in Casanova (1923). She gained wider notice by creating the title role in Rudolf Friml's long-running operetta Rose-Marie in 1924. She played Leah in The Neighborhood Playhouse's 1925 adaptation of The Dybbuk, and her later Broadway roles included Anna in The Crown Prince (1927), Kate in a long-running revival of The Taming of the Shrew (1927–1928), The Baroness of Spangenburg 12,000 (1928) and Jennifer in Meet the Prince. In 1929 she acted the title role in Becky Sharp in the Players' Club adaptation of Vanity Fair, and played Laetitia in 1930 in Children of Darkness. In 1930, Ellis emigrated to England with Basil Sydney, her third husband, whom she had married in 1929.