Phyllis Neilson-Terry

Biography

London welcomed Phyllis Neilson-Terry on 15 October 1892, and the capital’s footlights never quite recovered. Over the next eight decades she spun her family’s theatrical pedigree into performances that crackled across stage and screen: she rallied ancient Britain as the warrior queen in Boadicea (1927), sparred with literary ghosts in the anthology Tense Moments with Great Authors (1922), and hypnotised audiences as the doomed Trilby that same year. Off-stage she collected two husbands—first actor Cecil King, later writer-actor Heron Carvic—yet kept the spotlight squarely on her craft. On 25 September 1977 the city that first watched her take a bow took its final curtain-call, and London’s oldest theatrical dynasty lost one of its brightest stars.