Mrs Patrick Campbell

Mrs Patrick Campbell, born Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner and known informally as “Mrs Pat”, was an English stage actress who made her name through her role in A.W. Pinero’s The Second Mrs Tanqueray. Produced by actor-manager George Alexander, the play opened at the St. James’s Theatre on 27 May. Campbell played Paula Tanqueray, an ex-prostitute whose sympathetic treatment challenged the attitudes of the day. However, the play was an immediate success and Campbell’s performance was widely praised. After finding fame in 1893, Campbell socialised with artists, intellectuals and members of the aristocracy. In December 1901, Mrs Patrick Campbell sailed to America to embark on the first of several successful American tours.

She first made her professional stage debut in 1888 at the Alexandra Theatre, Liverpool, four years after her marriage to Patrick Campbell. In March 1890, she appeared in London at the Adelphi, where she afterward played again in 1891–93. She became successful after starring in Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s play, The Second Mrs Tanqueray, in 1893, at St. James’s Theatre where she also appeared in 1894 in The Masqueraders. As Kate Cloud in John-a-Dreams, produced by Beerbohm Tree at the Haymarket in 1894, she had another success, and again as Agnes in The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith at the Garrick (1895). Reference: Wikipedia and The National Portrait Gallery