Phyllis Dare (1890-1975)
REAL NAME: Phyllis Haddie Dones
BORN: 15 August 1890, London, England
MARRIED: Never married
DIED: 27 April 1975, Brighton, England

    Phyllis Dare was an actress born in London on the 15th of August 1890, she was the younger sister of Zena Dare who was also an actress. They made their first stage appearances together when only children. She had a home education. Her father was a divorce court clerk.

    Her first stage appearance was in Babes in the Wood in 1899 at the Coronet Theatre where she played the part of one of the children. After this she played the part of Christina in Little Christina at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and in the Christmas of the same year played the part of Little Red Riding Hood at Manchester's Theatre Royal. She then played the part of Marjorie in The Wilderness at the St James's Theatre. From here she went on to play the part of Mob in Seymour Hicks's Bluebell in Fairyland, in 1901 at the Vaudeville Theatre. Hicks said of her at the time that she "played very sweetly. But she had a rather childish affectation of speech."

    In 1905 she took over the role of Angela from her sister Zena in Seymour Hicks's The Catch of the Season, at the Vaudeville Theatre, this was due to Zena having other commitments. Then in the Christmas of the same year played Cinderella in pantomime, before being sent to Belgium in order to bring her up to date with her schooling.

    In May 1906 she returned to the Vaudeville Theatre taking over the part of the leading lady in The Belle of Mayfair from Edna May. It was a musical comedy that had originally opened on the 11th of April 1906, eventually achieving a London run of 416 performances. She then toured in The Dairymaids playing the part of Peggy until December 1907 when she played Cinderella at Birmingham's Theatre Royal.

    At the Adelphi Theatre in the Christmas of 1908 she again played the part of Cinderella, before in April 1909 at the Shaftsbury Theatre playing in Robert Courtneidge's The Arcadians.

    In June 1910 at the Vaudeville Theatre she played the part of Gonda van der Loo in The Girl in the Train. Then in February 1911 she played the part of Delia Dale in Paul Rubens' The Sunshine Girl at the Gaiety Theatre, it ran for 336 performances (she toured with this part in 1912 and 1913). From here she went on to play the part of Peggy Barrison the leading lady in Peggy, this opened at the Gaiety Theatre on the 4th of March 1911, achieving a run of 270 performances.

    In May 1913 she succeeded to the part of Nancy Joyce in The Dancing Mistress, and then played the part of Dora Manners in The Girl from Utah, both at the Adelphi Theatre. In October 1914 at the Prince of Wales Theatre she played the part of Sally Hook in a revival of Miss Hook of Holland. In 1915 she played the part of Tina in Tina, both written by Paul Rubens.

    Nobody knew better than Paul Rubens how to suit Phyllis Dare, he adored her and they became engaged in 1916, but Rubens discovered that he was seriously ill and called the engagement off preventing what would have been a happy marriage. Rubens died shortly afterwards at the tragically early age of forty with his work uncompleted.

    In March 1917 she played in Hanky Panky at the Empire Theatre. Then in May 1919 she played the part of Lucienne Touquet in Kissing Time at the Winter Garden. After this she played the princess in Aladdin for the Christmas of 1920 at the Hippodrome, London. In September 1921 at the Royalty she appeared in the unsuccessful Ring Up, going on to play in February 1922 the part of Marianne in The Lady of the Rose at Daly's Theatre and then the part of Yvette in The Street Singer in June 1924 at the Lyric Theatre.

    From the 1st  December 1926 she played Fay Blake in Lido Lady at the Gaiety Theatre, this ran for 259 performances and in February 1928 played the part of Mary Bannister in The Yellow Mask at the Carlton Theatre. She then went on to star in Aren't we All.

    In 1930 she toured in Cheated playing the role of Stella Trent. In November 1932 at the Adelphi she played in Words and Music. She then went back on tour playing Frieda in Music in the Air during 1934. In May 1936 at the Apollo Theatre she played Lady Beaumont in The Fugitives, and in May 1937 played Lady Charity Carstairs in And the Music Stopped. In the August of the same year she played Dorothy Hilton in Call it a Day.

    It wasn't until 1940 after a period of over four decades that Phyllis and her sister Zena once again shared the stage, it was whilst touring in a revival of Novello's Full House. Phyllis played the part of Lola Leadenhall.

    In 1941 she played the part of Juliet Maddock in Other Peoples Houses at the Ambassador and then the Phoenix during the period of 1941-42. In 1945 she toured the continent playing the part of Mrs. Wood in June Mad, and then in 1946 went on tour with Day After Tomorrow playing the part of Enid Fletcher. In November 1946 at the Savoy, she played the Marchioness of Mereston in Lady Frederick. Then in the August of 1948 played the part of Dorothy Sparkes in Sit Down a Minute.

    In September 1949 at the Palace Theatre both Phyllis and Zena played in Novello's musical, King's Rhapsody, Phyllis played Novello's mistress. This incidentally continued to run for many months after the death of Novello in 1951.

    King's Rhapsody was Phyllis's last stage performance before she retired and moved to Brighton at the age of 61, she was never married.

    Phyllis Dare died on the 27th of April 1975 at the age of 84. Her sister Zena had died just six weeks earlier on the 11th of March.

    In an interview Phyllis Dare once said; "I get numbers of all sorts of letters from men, saying all kinds of silly things : but then there is nothing unique in that. That is simply one of the penalties of being an actress. Every girl on the stage receives these kinds of letters. It would seem that the fizzle of the spotlight on the actress has the power of fizzling up the hearts of susceptible menfolk. Of course the letters are not all silly. It is always nice to hear that your acting or singing has been appreciated by anyone; but there are some people who write really as if they were lunatics. There was one man who used to write to me every day for, I am sure, almost half a year. He always used to sign himself 'Your humble and trembling footlight.' I am sure he was a lunatic. He hated my sister Zena, and used to send me postcard photos of her in which he had scratched her face all over. He evidently thought that this would make me very fond of him!"

    Speaking of her musical comedy experiences, Phyllis Dare continued:

    "I find it a very monotonous and often tiresome life. The musical comedies themselves have not got much in them as a rule beyond songs and little scenes and conversations leading up to those songs. I would like so much to have a part where one would be able to act in a study of character, or a least feel that one was not repeating silly, empty words. And I have always got to be smiling."

Many thanks to Matt Lloyd for the above biography.
 

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