Ernita Lascelles

Ernita Lascelles Ranson (May 1, 1890 – June 23, 1972) was an English actress, novelist, and playwright who built a career across stages in both New York City and London. Born in Chile to English parents, Lascelles appeared on Broadway between 1913 and 1933 and pursued parallel work as a writer throughout her professional life.

Lascelles began her stage career in the early 1900s, accumulating credits that included Much Ado About Nothing, Doctor Faustus, and The Comedy of Errors, all in 1904, followed by Love and a Half-Pence in 1906 and When Knights Were Bold in 1907. Her work continued through the following decade with productions such as Lady Windermere's Fan and The Miniature in 1911, The Double Game in 1912, and A Gauntlet and The Son and Heir in 1913. She appeared in Disraeli, The Philanderer, and Plaster Saints in 1914, and When the Young Vine Blooms in 1915. In 1923, she studied acting with Richard Boleslavski.

Her Broadway credits encompassed a range of dramatic works. She appeared in Gamblers All in 1917, The Tragedy of Nan and Polly with a Past in 1919, and The Madras House in 1921. From Morn to Midnight and Back to Methuselah followed in 1922, and The Dice of the Gods in 1923. The mid-1920s brought The Living Mask and The Mongrel in 1924, and Adam Solitaire in 1925. She later appeared in Emperor Henry IV, Fanny's First Play in 1932, and One Wife or Another in 1933. Additional stage work included The Silver Box and Murder with Pen and Ink, both in 1935, and a 1944 production of Medea at Columbia University.

Alongside her acting career, Lascelles wrote both fiction and drama. Her debut novel, The Sacrificial Goat, published in 1923, was set in the London theatre world and featured a working actress as its central character, with another character modeled on George Bernard Shaw. Her plays included the farce Listen to Me in 1926, the historical drama Lucretia in 1927, which concerned Lucrezia Borgia, The Bride Confesses in 1932, Oh Youth! in 1934, and Fire in 1942, a historical play about Thomas Cranmer.

In her personal life, Lascelles married English actor Herbert Walter Ranson in 1908. The couple had two daughters, Joan and Naomi. By 1953, Lascelles was working on the staff of a girls' camp in Vermont. Her husband died in 1970, and Lascelles died two years later, on June 23, 1972, in New Hope, Pennsylvania, at the age of 82.