Edith Ostlere
British actress and writer (1871–1931)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edith Elizabeth Bury Gayer Mackay (12 August 1871[1] – 12 September 1931[2]), known as Edith Ostlere, was a British actress, writer, and playwright. She used the pseudonym Robert Ord.
12 August 1871
Edith Ostlere | |
|---|---|
Edith Ostlere, from a 1908 publication | |
| Born | Edith Elizabeth Bury 12 August 1871 Surbiton, Surrey, England, U.K. |
| Died | 12 September 1931 (aged 60) London, England, U.K. |
| Other names | Robert Ord (pseudonym), Edith Lapthorne, Edith Gayer Mackay |
| Occupations | Actress, playwright |
| Spouse | W. Gayer Mackay |
Career
Ostlere's stage credits in Great Britain included roles in The Double Marriage (1888),[3] Paul Kauvar (1894),[4] A Gaiety Girl (1895),[5] One of the Best (1895–1896),[6] A Bunch of Violets (1896–1897),[7] The Seats of the Mighty (1896–1897),[8] The Baron's Wager (1897),[9] More than Ever (1897),[9] The King's Outcast (1899),[10] The Man in the Iron Mask (1899)[11] Kenyon's Widow, The Squire, A Fool's Paradise,[12] and Dr. Wake's Patient (1905–1906).[13]
Ostlere was also a writer. She wrote short stories, contributed a chapter to a collaborative novel in 1892,[14] and co-wrote a time-travel story, "The Heat Wave" (1929).[15] Using her pseudonym Robert Ord, she co-wrote several plays, including Dr. Wake's Patient (1904),[13] Barry Doyle's Rest Cure (1907),[16] The Port Arms (1909), A Midnight Visitor (1911), A Thief (1914), and The Prize (1915),[17] and co-adapted Gertrude Page's novel Paddy the Next Best Thing (1908) for the stage, with her husband, W. Gayer Mackay.[18][19]
Works
- A 'Novel' Novel: A Strange Story. Twenty Chapters by Twenty Authors (1892, contributor)[20][14]
- From Seven Dials (1898, short stories)[21]
- "The Perfidious Frenchman" (1902, short story)[22]
- Dr. Wake's Patient (1904, play, with W. Gayer Mackay)[13][17][23]
- The Knees of the Gods (1905, one-act play)[12]
- The Port Arms (1909, play, with W. Gayer Mackay)[17]
- A Midnight Visitor (1911, play, with W. Gayer Mackay)[17]
- A Thief (1914, play, with W. Gayer Mackay)[17]
- The Prize (1915, play, with W. Gayer Mackay)[17]
- "The Heat Wave: A Strange Story of Ancient Rome and Modern New York" (1929, story, with Marion Ryan)[15][24]
Personal life
Ostlere was born Edith Elizabeth Bury in Surbiton, Surrey, the daughter of Henry Cox Bury and Catherine Blanche Mousley Bury.[1] She married actor William Thomas Lapthorne in 1891.[25] They separated in 1897,[26] and divorced in 1906.[27] She married her writing partner, actor and playwright William Gayer Starbuck Mackay, in July 1907. He died in 1920,[28] and she died in 1931, in her sixties, in London.[2][29]