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Sunday 3 July 2011

Actress

Men and boys originally acted all of the roles in Shakespeare’s plays. In England at that time, it wasn't proper for females to appear on stage.

The first date on which an actress appeared on a public stage in Britain is thought to be December 8, 1660. On that date either Anne Marshall or Margaret Hughes appeared as Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello. at the Vere Street Theatre, London. However, we are not sure, which actress it was as no one thought to record the trailblazing actress’ name. Hughes was also famous as the mistress of the English Civil War general and later Restoration admiral, Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

Portrait of Margaret Hughes by Sir Peter Lely, c. 1670

Some historians identify Anne Marshall as the first actress to step onto the English stage. There are also reports of "England's first professional actress, Mrs Coleman" appearing in private theaters from 1656.

French actress Marguerite Georges (1787-1867) is said to have had affairs with both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington.

In March 1894 Thomas Edison’s employee William K.L. Dickson filmed Carmencita, a Spanish dancer and according to some the first woman to appear on film. Her projection was not allowed to be shown in some places due to it revealing her legs and undergarments as she twirled.


Mary Pickford became the first female movie star to sign a million dollar contract on June 24, 1916. The contract granted her full authority over production of the films in which she starred, and a salary of $10,000 a week. In addition, Pickford's compensation was half of a film's profits, with a guarantee of $1,040,000 (US$ 17,330,000 in 2017).

Mary Pickford

Hollywood greats Olivia de Haviland and Joan Fontaine were sisters and lifelong rivals. They were born 15 months apart and were rivals as children. When Joan won an Oscar against her sister in 1942, she ignored Olivia’s congratulations. Five years later Olivia did the same to Joan when she won.

The Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr (see below), once described as the most beautiful woman in the world, helped invent a torpedo guidance system, which led to the development of GPS, wifi and Bluetooth technology.


Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Year of Living Dangerously, in which she played the part of a man.

Katherine Hepburn is the only person to win four best actress Oscars.

Actress Louise Fletcher, who won an Academy Award for Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and played Kai Winn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, was born to parents who were both deaf. She was taught to speak by a hearing aunt, who also introduced her to acting.

Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis came 24th in the US women's archery championship in 1999.

Charlize Theron was discovered when she got into a shouting match with a bank teller and a talent agent in line behind her was impressed.

Dercy Goncalves holds the record as the actress with the longest career in history, notching up 86 years in show business. The Brazilian ran away from home to join a travelling theatre in 1922 and starred in a film aged 101 in 2008, the year of her death.

In 2014, Betty White was awarded the Guinness World Record for "Longest TV Career for an Entertainer (Female)," with a 1939 debut.


In 2014, no actresses over 45 years of age performed a lead or co-lead role in a top-grossing Hollywood film.

Fay McKenzie's movie career lasted 100 years. She was in a silent movie in 1918 as an infant and was in over 50 films ending with a cameo in 2018. She lived to be 101.

As at 2018 Milla Jovovich was the deadliest actress or actor with the all-time most kills in movies. Her  role as Alice across six Resident Evil films helped send her straight to the top of the list with 1,296 kills. She was followed by Jet Li (1076), and Dolph Lundgren (919) .

Dorothy Steel began her acting career at 88. She made her big film acting debut as merchant tribal elder, who advises Chadwick Boseman's character in Marvel's Black Panther. Steel sent in her audition tape and Marvel executives said "Who is that old lady? We want her."

Source Daily Express

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