Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse by Sir Joshua Reynolds (The Huntington, San Marino, California)

Sarah Siddons (July 5, 1755 – June 8, 1831) was a British actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 364 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (533 × 878 pixel, file size: 353 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 364 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (533 × 878 pixel, file size: 353 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (July 16, 1723–February 23, 1792) was the most important and influential of eighteenth-century English painters, specialising in portraits and promoting the Grand Style in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. ... Huntington Library The Huntington Library is an educational and research institution established by Henry Huntington in San Marino, California, USA. In addition to the library, there is an art collection and botanical gardens. ... Location of San Marino in Los Angeles County, California Coordinates: , Country State County Los Angeles Government  - Mayor Matthew Lin  - City Manager Matt Ballantyne  - City Clerk Carol Robb Area  - City 9. ... is the 186th day of the year (187th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1755 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Leopold I 1831 (MDCCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

She was born Sarah Kemble in Brecon, Brecknockshire, Wales, the eldest daughter of Roger Kemble, an actor-manager whose travelling company included most members of his family, and Sarah "Sally" Ward. Her brothers, Charles Kemble, John Philip Kemble and Stephen Kemble were all actors. Her youngest sister, Ann Hatton, became a novelist. The Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal basin at Brecon, the starting point of the Taff Trail. ... Brecknockshire (Welsh: ), also known as Breconshire, or the County of Brecon is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county. ... This article is about the country. ... Roger Kemble (1721-1802) was an English strolling player and actor. ... Charles Kemble (November 25, 1775 - November 12, 1854) was a British actor. ... John Philip Kemble (February 1, 1757 - February 26, 1823), was an English actor. ... Stephen Kemble (1758-1822) was a British actor, a member of the famous Kemble family. ... Julia Ann Hatton (1764-1848), also known as Ann of Swansea, was a popular novelist of the early 19th century. ...

Acting was only just becoming a respectable profession for a woman and initially her parents disapproved of her choice of profession. In 1773, she married William Siddons, another member of the company, and made her debut at Drury Lane two years later, in David Garrick's company as Portia in The Merchant of Venice. Despite considerable experience in her father's and later Chamberlain and Crump's companies, and a blossoming provincial career, her London debut in the much larger theatre was a disaster and her contract was not renewed at the end of her first season. 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. ... David Garrick by Thomas Gainsborough. ... Kate Dolan as Portia, painted by John Everett Millais (1829–1896) Portia is a fictional character, the heroine of William Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice. ... Portia and Shylock (1835) by Thomas Sully The Merchant of Venice is one of William Shakespeares best-known plays, written sometime between 1596 and 1598. ...

For the next six years she worked in provincial companies (in particular York and Bath), gradually building up a reputation, and her next Drury Lane appearance, on 10 October 1782, could not have been more different. She was an immediate sensation playing the title role in Garrick's adaptation of a play by Thomas Southerne, Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage. It was the beginning of twenty years in which she was the undisputed queen of Drury Lane. Her celebrity status has been called "mythical" and "monumental," and by "the mid-1780s Siddons was established as a cultural icon."^[1] She mixed with the literary and social elites of London society, and her acquaintances included Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Hester Thrale Piozzi, and William Windham. Thomas Southerne (1660 - May 22, 1746), Irish dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660, and entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1676. ... For other persons named Samuel Johnson, see Samuel Johnson (disambiguation). ... Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729[1] – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Hester Lynch Thrale by Sir Joshua Reynolds Hester Lynch Thrale (born Hester Lynch Salusbury and after her second marriage, Hester Lynch Piozzi ) (16 January 1741 (she mistakenly celebrated her own birthday on 27 January) - May 2, 1821) was a British diarist, author, and a friend and confidante of Samuel Johnson. ... William Windham (1780-1810) was an English statesman, born of an ancient Norfolk family. ...

Her family life was less fortunate; she gave birth to seven children but outlived five of them, and her marriage to William Siddons became strained and ended in an informal separation.

In 1802 she left Drury Lane and subsequently appeared from time to time on the stage of the rival establishment, Covent Garden. It was there, on 29 June 1812, that she gave perhaps the most extraordinary farewell performance in theatre history. She was playing her most famous role, Lady Macbeth, and the audience refused to allow the play to continue after the end of the sleepwalking scene. Eventually, after tumultuous applause from the pit, the curtain reopened and Siddons was discovered sitting in her own clothes and character - whereupon she made an emotional farewell speech to the audience lasting eight minutes. Covent Garden is a district in London, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden. ... Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole, 1850 Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeares play Macbeth. ...

Sarah Siddons died in 1831 in London and was interred there in Saint Mary's Cemetery at Paddington Green. Paddington Green Police Station in the Paddington district of west central London, England is operated by the Metropolitan Police Service. ...

The opening scene of the movie All About Eve depicts an award ceremony for "The Sarah Siddons Award", an acting trophy. At the time of the film's release, this was a purely fictitious award, made up for the movie. However, there is now the American Sarah Siddons Award for dramatic achievement in theatre: a genuine and prestigious award, named in honor of Siddons. The award is given annually in Chicago by the "Sarah Siddons Society." For other uses, see All About Eve (disambiguation). ... The Sarah Siddons Society is an American non-profit organization founded in 1952 by prominent Chicago theatre patrons with the goal of promoting excellence in the theatre. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ...

The London Underground had an electric locomotive named after her, used on the Metropolitan Line, along with other locomotives, until 1961. The London Underground is a transit system that serves much of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. ... Modern three-phase AC locomotive (DBAG Class 152) A GG1 An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electric motors which draws current from an overhead wire (overhead lines), a third rail, or an on-board storage device such as a battery or a flywheel energy storage system. ... London Transport Portal The Metropolitan Line is part of the London Underground, coloured maroon on the Tube map. ...

Michael Corby, founder of the 1970s group The Babys, is reportedly the great-great-great-great-grandson of Sarah Siddons.

References

• Seewald, Jan: Theatrical Sculpture. Skulptierte Bildnisse berühmter englischer Schauspieler (1750–1850), insbesondere David Garrick und Sarah Siddons. Herbert Utz Verlag, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-8316-0671-9

• Shaughnessy, Robert. “Siddons , Sarah (1755–1831).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Jan. 2006. 16 Dec. 2006.