Ethel Knight Kelly
Ethel Kelly, photographed by Harold Cazneaux in about 1910.
Born
Ethel Knight Mollison

(1875-01-28)28 January 1875
Saint John, New Brunswick
Died22 September 1949(1949-09-22) (aged 74)
Darlinghurst, New South Wales
Other namesEthel Knight Moore
Occupation(s)Actress, writer
Spouses
  • Edmund Canston Moore (married 1894-?)
  • Thomas Herbert Kelly (married 1903–1948)
Children4

Ethel Knight Kelly (born Ethel Knight Mollison, 28 January 1875 – 22 September 1949) was a Canadian–Australian actress, writer, and social leader. She appeared in a number of plays and wrote four books.

Early life

Kelly was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. She was the elder daughter of Margaret Millen Mollison and William Knight Mollison. She married Edmund Canston Moore in New York City on 12 September 1894.[1][2] The marriage was brief; one source states that Edmund died less than a year after the wedding.[3]

Career

She began her acting career with Olga Nethersole in 1894,[4] and went on to appear in plays that included Cyrano de Bergerac and The Taming of the Shrew.[3] She acted with a company headed by Augustin Daly and with George Holland's Stock Company.[4] She appeared on Broadway in Beaucaire in 1901.[5]

J. C. Williamson brought her to Australia for the play Are You a Mason? in 1903. Later that year she appeared in Madame Butterfly. She largely left acting after her second marriage, but she still sometimes performed in matinée shows. She appeared in The School for Scandal in 1917, and in her own play, Swords and Tea, in 1918. Also in 1918, she appeared in the silent film Cupid Camouflaged, credited as Mrs. T. H. Kelly.

Her first book was an account of her travels in India, titled Frivolous Peeps at India and published in 1911. In 1922, she became editor of the women's page of Smith's Weekly. In 1925 she published her first novel, Why the Sphinx Smiles. It was followed by Zara in 1927. She wrote a memoir, Twelve Milestones, which was published in 1929.

Personal life

While in Australia she met businessman Thomas Herbert Kelly, the brother of Willie and Frederick Kelly.[6] They married on 29 August 1903. They had two sons and two daughters. They remained married until his death in 1948.

From 1925 to 1934, she lived primarily in Florence, Italy, with her daughters. While in Italy she converted to Catholicism. She returned to Australia in 1934.

Kelly was an active fundraiser for hospitals and other charities, and was a prominent hostess for Sydney social events.[3]

She died on 22 September 1949 at her home in Darlinghurst. She was survived by one of her sons and both of her daughters.

References

  1. ↑ "The Daily Telegraph". Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics. Saint John, New Brunswick: Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. 19 September 1894. Volume 93 Number 3161. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "The Daily Telegraph". Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics. Saint John, New Brunswick: Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. 19 September 1894. Volume 93 Number 3169. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Rutledge, Martha. "Kelly, Ethel Knight (1875–1949)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Ethel Knight Mollison". Buffalo Courier. Buffalo, New York. 9 July 1899. p. 6. Retrieved 24 December 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Ethel Knight Mollison". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Rutledge, Martha (2006). "Kelly, Thomas Herbert (1875–1948)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

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