English actress, born in London, her maiden name being Tanner, and in 1884 married Captain Patrick Campbell (d. 1900). After having appeared on the provincial stage she first became prominent at the Adelphi theatre, London, in 1892, and next year created the chief part in Pinero’s Second Mrs. Tanqueray at the St. James’s, her remarkable impersonation at once putting her in the first rank of English actresses. For some years she displayed her striking dramatic talent in London, playing notably with Mr. Forbes-Robertson in Davidson’s For the Crown, and in Macbeth; and her Magda (Royalty, 1900) could hold its own with either Bernhardt or Duse. In later years she paid successful visits to America, but in England played chiefly on provincial tours.
She appeared at the Haymarket theatre, London, in Lady Patricia in 1911, and later in the same year at the St. James’s Theatre in Bella Donna. She also played Eliza Doolittle in Mr. Shaw’s Pygmalion at His Majesty’s theatre in 1914, and Leonora in Barrie’s The Adored One at the Duke of York’s theatre in 1913. In 1914 she married Mr. George Cornwallis-West. In 1917 she appeared in B. Veiller’s American melodrama, The Thirteenth Chair, at the Duke of York’s theatre, London, and in November 1920 she played Lady Macbeth in Mr. James K. Hackett’s production of Macbeth at the Aldwych. Her daughter, Stella Campbell, also became an actress.
