Gertie Millar

Gertie Millar, born Gertrude Millar on 21 February 1879 in Manningham, Bradford, was an English actress and singer who became one of the most prominent figures in Edwardian musical comedy. Her father, John Millar, worked in a mill, and her mother, Elizabeth, was a worsted-stuff worker and dressmaker. Millar died on 25 April 1952 at her home in Chiddingfold, aged 73.

Millar began performing at age 13, when she appeared in the pantomime Babes in the Wood at the St. James Theatre in Manchester. Her early career took shape in the music halls of Yorkshire, where she worked as a singer and dancer before relocating to London, where she began receiving favorable notices in variety bills. By 1897 she had taken on the role of Phyllis Crosby in A Game of Cards at Shodfriars Hall in Boston, Lincolnshire. She subsequently toured in The New Barmaid, playing Dora, and appeared in The Silver Lining and The Lady Detective, in which she played Sadie Pinkhose. In 1899 she played Dandini in a production of Cinderella at the Grand Theatre, Fulham.

Her association with producer George Edwardes defined the next phase of her career. In 1900 she played Isabel Blythe in the touring production of The Messenger Boy, a performance that caught the attention of composer Lionel Monckton, who requested she be cast as the bridesmaid Cora in Edwardes's next production, The Toreador, at the Gaiety Theatre in 1901. In that show she performed "Keep Off the Grass," making it a popular success, and subsequently received two additional songs, "Captivating Cora" and "I'm not a simple little girl." These credits established her reputation in London. She also starred as Morgiana in The Linkman; or, Gaiety Memories, the final production at the old Gaiety before it closed for renovations in 1902. On 25 December 1902, she married Monckton at St. Mark's Church in Surbiton, and he continued to compose songs specifically for her throughout their partnership.

Millar went on to headline a succession of long-running West End productions. She received top billing as the Hon. Violet Anstruther in The Orchid, which opened the new Gaiety Theatre in 1903 and introduced the songs "Little Mary," "Liza Ann," and "Come with me to the zoo." She starred as Rosalie in The Spring Chicken in 1905, singing "Alice sit by the fire" and "The Delights of London," and played Lally in The New Aladdin in 1906. In The Girls of Gottenberg in 1907, she played Mitzi and performed the duet "Two Little Sausages" with Edmund Payne, as well as the Wagnerian parody "Rhinegold." During this period she also became one of the most photographed women of the Edwardian era.

On the morning of 30 October 1905, a notable incident occurred at the Russell Square residence Millar shared with Monckton. Baron Gunther Rau von Holzhauzen, a young admirer who had visited and lunched with Millar on various occasions over several months and had written letters to her expressing both devotion and financial despondency, concealed himself in her boudoir and shot himself with a revolver. A maid discovered him and alerted the household; von Holzhauzen died at a nearby hospital hours later.

Millar's Broadway appearance came in 1908, when she was sent to New York to star in the musical The Girls of Gottenberg. The circumstances arose from her prior casting in the English-language production of Oscar Straus's Ein Walzertraum at the Hicks Theatre in London, where she played Franzi; the musical demands of Straus's score proved too challenging for her voice, and she was redirected to the Broadway production of the Gottenberg show instead.

Following her return to London, Millar continued to achieve major successes on the West End stage. She played the title role in the Gaiety musical Our Miss Gibbs in 1909, introducing the Monckton-composed songs "Moonstruck," "Yorkshire," and "Our farm." The following year she played the title character Prudence Pym in The Quaker Girl at the Adelphi Theatre, popularizing "The Quaker Girl," "The Little Grey Bonnet," and "Tony from America." She then appeared in the English-language version of Franz Lehár's Gipsy Love in 1912 at Daly's Theatre, playing Lady Babby, before returning to the Adelphi to play Nancy Joyce in The Dancing Mistress later that same year. At Daly's she played Kitty Kent in The Marriage Market in 1913, and the following year she took the role of Nan in a major revival of A Country Girl. In 1914 she also appeared in the film The House of Bondage, playing Sallie Denbigh.

The years surrounding World War I marked the close of Millar's stage career. She appeared in two Monckton revues, Bric à Brac in 1915, in which she sang "Neville was a Devil," and Airs and Graces in 1917, as well as the musical comedies Houp La! in 1916 and Flora in 1918, along with productions in the provinces. She left the stage in 1918. Monckton died on 15 February 1924. Two months later, on 30 April 1924, Millar married the 2nd Earl of Dudley, who had previously served as Governor-General of Australia. Lord Dudley died in 1932. Millar survived him by two decades, dying in 1952 and leaving an estate valued at £52,354.