Beatrice Beckley
Born
Beatrice Mary Beckley[1]

(1882-06-04)4 June 1882[2]
Hampstead, London
Died8 February 1959(1959-02-08) (aged 74)
Monte Carlo, Monaco
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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