Nellie Stewart

Nellie Stewart, born Eleanor Stewart Towzey on 20 November 1858 in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, was an Australian actress and singer who performed on Broadway in 1910. Known by the nicknames "Our Nell" and "Sweet Nell," she died on 21 June 1931.

Stewart came from a deeply theatrical family. Her father, Richard Stewart, was an actor and singer who in 1857 married the actress Theodosia Yates, known professionally as "Mrs. Guerin," a great-granddaughter of the actors Richard Yates and Mary Ann Yates. Her mother had emigrated to Australia in 1840 and performed leading operatic roles, including the title part in Maritana at its first Sydney production. Two half-sisters, known on the Australian stage as Docy and Maggie Stewart, were daughters of Theodosia by her first husband, James Guerin. The family relocated to Melbourne, where Stewart attended the old model school and later a boarding school. Her father taught her fencing, Henry Leopold instructed her in dancing, and David Miranda — father of Lalla Miranda — taught her singing.

Stewart made her first stage appearance at approximately five years of age, playing a juvenile role alongside Charles Kean in The Stranger. She took children's parts in pantomime as she grew older, and in 1877 performed seven roles in a family production called Rainbow Revels. The following year she played Ralph Rackstraw in an early Melbourne production of H.M.S. Pinafore. In 1879 she toured India with her father's company before continuing on to a small-town tour of the United States. Late in 1880, she accepted the role of principal boy in Sinbad the Sailor in Melbourne, a pantomime that ran for fourteen weeks and brought her considerable recognition. In 1881 she appeared as Griolet in La fille du tambour-major and as the Countess in Olivette.

Over the following thirteen years, Stewart took leading parts in thirty-five comic operas, among them multiple works by Gilbert and Sullivan. In December 1883 she played the title role in Patience, and her subsequent principal parts included Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Phyllis in Iolanthe, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, the title role in Princess Ida, and Clairette in La fille de Madame Angot. During a Christmas pantomime following her Patience run, she fell while climbing a beanstalk, broke her arm, had it set in the theatre, and completed the performance. On 26 January 1884, Stewart married Richard Goldsbrough Row, a union she later described as "a girl's mad act." The couple separated within weeks, and she returned to the stage. Around this period she formed a lasting personal and professional association with theatrical manager George Musgrove, to whose memory she later dedicated her autobiography, My Life Story.

In 1887 Stewart left the stage for twelve months and traveled to London with Musgrove, returning to Australia in January 1888 to appear in Dorothy, with composer Alfred Cellier conducting. In March 1888 she sang Marguerite in Charles Gounod's Faust in Melbourne for twenty-four consecutive nights, a run she later identified as the likely beginning of the vocal strain that would eventually cost her her voice. In April 1888 she played Elsie in The Yeoman of the Guard at a weekly salary of £15, her highest to that point. In 1889 she performed in a successful season of Paul Jones before traveling to London, where she played Susan in the burlesque Blue-eyed Susan, written by George Robert Sims. The production was unsuccessful, and Stewart struggled with nerves performing in London. She subsequently retired from the stage for two additional years, during which time she gave birth to a daughter, Nancye Doris Stewart, born in 1893, whose father was Musgrove.

Returning to performance in September 1893, Stewart played Gianetta in The Gondoliers and the title role in La Cigale, along with principal parts in Ma mie Rosette and Mam'zelle Nitouche over the following two years. In 1895 she went back to London, where she remained largely absent from the stage for four years. She returned at Christmas 1899 as principal boy in The Forty Thieves at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, earning £50 a week. She was cast in the same capacity the following Christmas but fell ill on opening day and returned to Melbourne.

When the Duke and Duchess of York visited Australia to open the first federal parliament, Stewart sang the ode "Australia" at the opening of the musical programme. In February 1902 she took on the role of Nell Gwynne in Sweet Nell of Old Drury, which became one of the defining successes of her career and the source of her enduring nicknames. Comedy roles in Mice and Men and Zaza followed, the latter bringing her a weekly salary of £80, the highest of her career. In 1904 and 1905, Pretty Peggy and Camille were added to her repertoire. A subsequent American tour saw Sweet Nell succeed in San Francisco, California, though the 1906 earthquake destroyed the company's scenery and forced the abandonment of a planned New York engagement. Stewart returned to Australia, and in 1909 she found further success in a revival of Sweet Kitty Bellairs, alternated with Zaza, Rosalind in As You Like It, and Sweet Nell across a long season.

In March 1910 Stewart played Maggie Wylie in What Every Woman Knows, followed by Princess Mary in When Knighthood Was in Flower and the title role in Trilby. That same year she appeared on Broadway in the musical Our Miss Gibbs. In 1911 she made her sole film appearance, reprising her stage role as the title character in Sweet Nell of Old Drury for director Raymond Longford.

World War I severely affected the theatrical industry, and Stewart lost nearly all of her savings during this period. She toured New Zealand in 1915 to warm critical reception. In January 1916 the death of George Musgrove left her deeply depressed, until Hugh Donald McIntosh persuaded her to return to work in a condensed version of Sweet Nell at the Tivoli Theatre. She continued performing in both comedy and drama and worked in theatre management through the 1920s. Stewart died on 21 June 1931.