Beatrice Beckley
Born
Beatrice Mary Beckley[1]

(1882-06-04)4 June 1882[2]
Hampstead, London
Died8 February 1959(1959-02-08) (aged 74)
OccupationStage actress
Spouse
James K. Hackett
(m. 1911; died 1926)

Beatrice Mary Beckley (4 June 1882 – 8 February 1959) was an English-born American actress of stage and screen.[3]

Beckley was born in Hampstead, London, to Lt. Col. Thomas Beckley and Emily Margaretta Hernulewicz.[4][5] She was trained by Geneviève Ward. Her first appearance on the stage was in an amateur production of W S Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea at Hampstead Town Hall.[6] She made her stage debut in London in a 1901 production of H. V. Esmond's The Wilderness[7] before moving to the United States.[8] She spent four seasons with the company of James K. Hackett, before marrying him in a lawyer's office in Milwaukee on 16 December 1911.[8][9]

Beckley appeared in many theater productions in the United States, including main roles in The Walls of Jericho, Samson, and The Prisoner of Zenda, opposite Hackett.[9][10] She also reprised her stage roles in film adaptations of The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) and Should a Husband Forgive? (1919).[8]

When her husband died in Paris on 8 November 1926, he was cremated there, and his ashes taken for interment in the family vault at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York.[11] Beckley inherited a life interest in most of Hackett's property[12] and more than $273,000 USD.[13] When she died her estate was valued at £5127.

She died of complications from Parkinson's disease at the Hôtel du Louvre in Monte Carlo, aged 73.[14]

References

  1. Staff (December 18, 1911). "Weds James K. Hackett". The Washington Post. p. 1. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
  2. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837–1915
  3. "A Portrait of Mrs. James K. Hackett". Arts & Decoration. Vol. 15, no. 3. 19 April 1921. p. 157.
  4. 1891 England Census
  5. U.S., Passport Applications, 1795–1925
  6. Special correspondent of The Christan Science Monitor (22 March 1921). "Beatrice Beckley: an interview with Mrs James K Hackett". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 12.
  7. Wearing, J. P. (2013). The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-8108-9294-1.
  8. 1 2 3 "Beatrice Beckley is Actor's Bride". San Francisco Call. 18 December 1911 via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  9. 1 2 "James K. Hackett Takes Second Wife". The New York Times. 18 December 1911.
  10. "Hackett ideal in 'Prisoner of Zenda'". The San Francisco Examiner. 26 July 1910. p. 8. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  11. "James K. Hackett's ashes to be brought to New York". The Boston Globe. 9 November 1926. p. 13. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  12. "Hackett's Estate". Variety. Vol. 85, no. 5. 17 November 1926.
  13. "Ritzy". Variety. Vol. 96. 18 September 1929. p. 67.
  14. U.S., Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835–1974

Further reading

Media related to Beatrice Beckley at Wikimedia Commons

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