Martha Henry

Martha Kathleen Henry (née Buhs; February 17, 1938 – October 21, 2021) was an American-Canadian actress and director whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she grew up in the suburb of Bloomfield Hills and attended Kingswood School before graduating from the drama department at Carnegie Institute of Technology. She relocated to Canada in 1959, where she would build a career recognized with honors including three Genie Awards for Best Actress and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime contribution to Canadian theatre. She adopted the stage surname Henry from the legal surname of her first husband, actor Donnelly Rhodes, whom she married in 1962.

Upon arriving in Canada, Henry performed at Toronto's Crest Theatre before being accepted into the inaugural class at the National Theatre School in Montreal. In 1961, the school brought its students to Stratford to perform scene selections for the Festival company, where Artistic Director Michael Langham offered Henry a place in the 1962 company based on her work that day. NTS Director Powys Thomas advised her to accept the offer despite its requiring her to leave the three-year program early, and the school awarded her a diploma ahead of the inaugural class, making her its first graduate.

Henry's first season at the Stratford Festival in 1962 included Miranda in The Tempest opposite William Hutt's Prospero, and Lady Macduff in Macbeth. Between 1962 and 1980 she appeared in leading roles across 40 productions, among them Cordelia in King Lear (1964), Viola in Twelfth Night (1966), Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Desdemona in Othello (1973), Isabella in Measure for Measure (1975–1976), Olga in Three Sisters (1976), Lady Anne in Richard III (1977), and Paulina in The Winter's Tale (1978). She made her directing debut at Stratford in 1980.

During periods away from Stratford, Henry performed at venues across Canada and abroad, including a Broadway engagement that ran from 1971 to 1972. Her Broadway credits comprised the play The Crucible, the comedy Twelfth Night, Narrow Road to the Deep North, Antigone, and The Playboy of the Western World. Her Broadway work earned her the Theatre World Award in 1971. She also performed at New York's Lincoln Center and in London's West End.

Henry and three colleagues — Urjo Kareda, Peter Moss, and Pam Brighton — were appointed to lead Stratford's 1981 season following the resignation of Artistic Director Robin Phillips. The board subsequently arranged for English director John Dexter to replace the group, prompting a widespread response from the Canadian arts community. Immigration Minister Lloyd Axworthy denied Dexter a work permit, and Canadian director John Hirsch was appointed for the 1981 season. The episode, referred to in connection with the so-called Gang of Four, led Henry and other Stratford veterans to work away from the Festival for a number of years.

Following 1980, Henry performed and directed at major venues across North America, including Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, the National Arts Centre, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, the Shaw Festival, Neptune Theatre, and Carnegie Mellon University. From 1988 to 1995 she served as artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, programming works that included Oleanna by David Mamet, The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway, and The Stillborn Lover by Timothy Findley.

Henry returned to the Stratford stage in 1994 as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night, a production remounted for the 1995 season. A filmed version earned her a Genie Award for Best Actress at the 17th Genie Awards. The return initiated a second extended period at Stratford during which she performed, directed, and taught. In 2007 she was appointed director of Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, and in 2017 she assumed leadership of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction. Her 2016 production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller appeared on multiple critics' lists of top theatre productions that year. In 2018, in her 44th performing season and at age 80, she played Prospero in The Tempest, directed by Antoni Cimolino.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Henry played the role of "A" in Three Tall Women by Edward Albee at Stratford's Studio Theatre. A stage-to-screen adaptation of that final performance, captured by director Barry Avrich in the months before her death, was broadcast on television in 2022 and received several Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, including a posthumous nomination for Henry in the category of Best Performance in a Television Film or Miniseries.

Henry's television credits included Catherine in Empire, Inc., the prime minister's mother in H2O, the owner of the Chateau Rousseau in Ken Finkleman's At the Hotel, and a starring role in the 1994 television film And Then There Was One. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981, promoted to Companion in 1990, and named a member of the Order of Ontario in 1994. Henry died of cancer at her home in Stratford, Ontario, on October 21, 2021, twelve days after her final stage appearance. She was survived by a daughter, Emma, from her marriage to actor Douglas Rain.