Editing Lynn Fontanne (section)

==Life and career==
===Early years===
Fontanne was born '''Lillie Louise Fontanne''' in  [[Woodford, London|Woodford]], Essex (now London), on 6 December 1887.{{refn|It was quite usual for actresses (and some actors) to deduct a few years from their age in reference books such as ''[[Who's Who in the Theatre]]'',<ref>Parker, pp. iii–iv</ref> which Fontanne did, claiming to have been born in 1892.<ref name=ww/> She carried the pretence to the extent of concealing her real age from her husband, and not admitting it publicly until after his death.<ref>Ware and Braukman, p. 217</ref>|group=n|name=age}} She was the youngest of the three daughters of Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne (1855–1942) and his wife Frances Ellen, ''née'' Thornley (1858–1921). She was educated in London, after which a family friend introduced her to the leading actress [[Ellen Terry]], who sometimes gave lessons to promising young players.<ref name=anb/> Partly as a result of Terry’s training and influence, Fontanne was given roles in plays in London and on tour throughout England from 1905 to 1916. She made her first appearance at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], at Christmas 1905, in the chorus of the [[pantomime]], ''Cinderella'', and subsequently "walked on" (i.e. was a non-speaking extra) in productions in London starring [[Lewis Waller]], [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree|Sir Herbert Tree]], [[Lena Ashwell]] and others.<ref name=ww>Herbert, pp. 789–791</ref>

[[File:Fontanne-My-Lady's-Dress-1914.jpg|thumb|upright|As Liza in ''My Lady's Dress'', 1914|alt=Young white woman in 1914 daywear, seated at a table, teacup in hand]]
During 1909, she toured as Rose in ''Lady Frederick'' with [[Mabel Love]]. At the [[Garrick Theatre]], London, in December 1909 she appeared in ''Where Children Rule'', and in ''Billy's Bargain'' at the same theatre in June 1910 she played Lady Mulberry. She then made her first visit to America, making her début in New York at [[Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre]] in November 1910 as Harriet Budgeon in ''Mr Preedy and the Countess'' with [[Weedon Grossmith]].<ref name=ww/>

After returning to London in 1911 she played at the [[Criterion Theatre]] in ''The Young Lady of Seventeen'' and at the [[Vaudeville Theatre|Vaudeville]] in ''A Storm in a Tea Shop''. She then toured in the provinces in 1912–13 as Gertrude Rhead in [[Arnold Bennett]] and [[Edward Knoblock]]'s ''[[Milestones (play)|Milestones]]'', before playing the part in London.<ref name=ww/> In that role she had to play the same character in youth, middle age and old age. The American star [[Laurette Taylor]] saw her in the role and was impressed.<ref name=p14>Peters, p. 14</ref> At the [[Royalty Theatre]] in April 1914 Fontanne scored a success as Liza and Mrs Collison in Knoblock's ''My Lady's Dress''. She played in four other London productions in 1914–15, including the premiere of ''[[The Starlight Express]]''. She became engaged to marry a young lawyer, Teddy Byrne, but he was killed in action in 1916 during the [[First World War]].<ref name=p14/>

===Broadway===
[[File:Lynn-Fontanne-as-Lady-Castlemain.jpg|As Lady Castlemaine in ''Sweet Nell of Old Drury'', 1923|thumb|upright|alt=Young white woman in late 17th century costume with huge hat]]
Shortly before Byrne's death, Fontanne accepted an offer to join Laurette Taylor's company in New York. Taylor and her husband, [[J. Hartley Manners|Hartley Manners]], fostered the young Fontanne's career. Taylor later said, "While acting with her I forgot we were actresses".<ref>Peters, p. 17</ref> After five plays with them, Fontanne graduated to leading roles for other managements. Between 1918 and 1920, she succeeded [[Laura Hope Crews]] as Mrs Rockingham in "A Pair of Petticoats" in New York, and was the female lead in new plays on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] and in [[Chicago]] and [[Philadelphia]].<ref name=ww/> During this time, playing in [[summer stock theatre|summer stock]] in Washington DC, she met the actor [[Alfred Lunt]]. They fell in love, although at first Lunt's wooing was more hesitant than Fontanne would have wished.<ref>Peters, p. 46</ref>

In mid-1920 Fontanne appeared once again in the [[West End theatre|West End]], appearing with Taylor in a play by Manners, ''One Night in Rome.'' She had little chance to shine in what ''[[The Stage]]'' called "a one-part play" written as a vehicle for Taylor.<ref>"London Theatres", ''The Stage'', 6 May 1920, p. 16</ref> Wanting to be reunited with Lunt, Fontanne quickly returned to the US, where in 1921 she had her first big success, in the lead role of [[George S. Kaufman]] and [[Marc Connelly]]'s comedy ''[[Dulcy (play)|Dulcy]]''.<ref>Peters, p. 49</ref>{{refn|[[Dorothy Parker]] wrote a verse celebrating Fontanne in the play:<poem>     ''Dulcy'', take our gratitude
     All your words are gold ones.
     Mistress of the platitude,
     Queen of all the old ones.
     You, at last, are something new
     'Neath the theatre's dome. I'd
     Mention to the cosmos, you
     Swing a wicked bromide. ...<ref>Silverstein, p. 100</ref></poem>|group=n}} She did not return to the West End for nine years.<ref name=ww/>

In May 1922 Fontanne married Lunt, and in 1923 they made their first appearance together in a Broadway production, a revival of [[Paul Kester]]'s 1900 costume drama ''Sweet Nell of Old Drury''. Although Taylor was the female lead, it was Fontanne who impressed the critics. In ''[[The New York Herald]]'', [[Alexander Woollcott]] dismissed the play as "gaudy rubbish", but added:
{{blockindent|one performance stood out last evening as something of fine mettle, something true and shining. That was the performance of Lynn Fontanne as the frustrated and embittered Lady Castlemaine. ... It might be noted in passing that she is growing beautiful.<ref>''Quoted'' in Peters, p. 63</ref>|}}

===Theatre Guild===
[[File:Pygmalion-Fontanne-Travers-1926.jpg|thumb|upright|As Eliza in ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'', 1926, with [[Henry Travers]] as Doolittle|alt=young white woman in Japanese kimono worn as a dressing gown, next to standing middle-aged man in working clothes raising his hand threateningly, ignored by her]]
In 1924, the Lunts joined the company of the [[Theatre Guild]], which, in the words of Fontanne's biographer Jared Brown, "staged plays on Broadway but defied Broadway conventions by offering serious and innovative plays that were regularly rejected by commercial managements".<ref name=anb>Brown, Jared. [https://www-anb-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1801349 "Lunt, Alfred (12 August 1892 – 03 August 1977), and Lynn Fontanne (06 December 1887 – 30 July 1983), actors and producers"] ''American National Biography''. Oxford University Press, 1999. Retrieved 23 August 2021 {{subscription required}}</ref> The first play in which the couple appeared for the Guild was [[Ferenc Molnár]]'s ''The Guardsman,'' in which they established a reputation for playing light comedy.<ref name=anb/> They acted together in three plays by [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]]: ''[[Arms and the Man]]'' (as Raina and Bluntschli, 1925), ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'' (as Eliza and Higgins, 1926) and ''[[The Doctor's Dilemma (play)|The Doctor's Dilemma]]'' (as the Dubedats, 1927).<ref name=ww/><ref name=al>Herbert, pp. 1110–1111</ref> Fontanne had the chance to demonstrate her versatility by switching from comedy to demanding experimental drama in [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s ''[[Strange Interlude]]'' (1928), described by Woollcott as "the ''[[Abie's Irish Rose]]'' of the pseudo-intelligentsia".<ref>Burns, p. 91</ref>

Fontanne and Lunt introduced a naturalistic new way of delivering dialogue, building on a technique Fontanne had begun to explore in her performances with Laurette Taylor. It was unheard of for an actor to speak while another was still speaking, but, in Brown's words:
{{blockindent|The Lunts …. perfected the use of overlapping dialogue … although both actors were speaking at the same time, the audience would not miss a word spoken by either. Great skill was required in order to bring off this effect successfully. Lunt spoke in a slightly different rhythm and at a slightly different pitch than Fontanne; each modulated his or her volume level to accommodate the other; and, perhaps most difficult of all, they made the effect sound perfectly natural.<ref name=anb/>|}}

As a consequence, according to Brown, the Lunts' scenes together could be "more vivid, more ''real'' than those of other actors".<ref name=anb/>{{refn|The English humorous writer [[Arthur Marshall (broadcaster)|Arthur Marshall]] wrote that the Lunts' technique brought about a revolution in comedy acting: "Never before had such playing been seen. … actors waited to speak until somebody else had finished… The Lunts turned all that upside down. They threw away lines, they trod on each other’s words, they gabbled, they whispered, they spoke at the same time. They spoke, in fact, as people do in ordinary life, a theatrical innovation that nobody seems to have tried before".<ref>Marshall, p. 95</ref>|group=n}}
[[File:The-Lunts-1925.png|thumb|upright|left|The Lunts, mid-1920s|alt=Young man and young woman, white, in studio portrait]]
In 1928, Fontanne and Lunt co-starred in what for the Guild was an untypically frothy comedy, ''Caprice''. The biographer [[Margot Peters]] calls the production a milestone in their careers for two reasons: it was the first production in which they, rather than the play, were the main draw, and it marked the start of their inseparable theatrical partnership: from then on they always appeared together. They took ''Caprice'' to London in 1930 – Lunt's first appearance there – and won the admiration of audiences, critics, and writers including Shaw and [[J. B. Priestley]].<ref>Peters, pp. 100–101</ref> For the Guild in New York, Fontanne and Lunt starred in [[Robert E. Sherwood|Robert Sherwood's]] romantic comedy ''Reunion in Vienna'' which opened in November 1931 and ran throughout the season, before a nationwide tour.<ref name=ww/> The two were strong believers in touring, taking many of their Broadway hits to remote locations as well as the larger American cities. They felt a double responsibility to do so: to ensure that playwrights had their works presented to as many people as possible, and to allow people outside New York to see Broadway productions.<ref name=anb/>

===''Design for Living''===
[[File:Noel-Coward-in-jumper 1925.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Noël Coward]], 1925{{space}}photograph|alt=young, clean-shaven white man in neat, informal 1920s clothes]]
Fontanne and Lunt had been close friends of the English actor and playwright [[Noël Coward]] since they met in New York in 1921, before any of them had achieved success in the theatre. They had resolved then that when they were famous, Coward would write a play for all three of them to star in.<ref>Lahr, p. 73</ref> The Lunts' marriage was the subject of much conjecture in theatrical circles: although they were clearly devoted to each other, there were unsubstantiated but persistent rumours that Lunt was bisexual and had gay liaisons; there was also speculation that Fontanne had extramarital interests.<ref>Peters, p. 58</ref> Against this background, Coward wrote a comedy for the three of them, ''[[Design for Living]]'' (1932)'','' in which Fontanne's character switches back and forth between the two men, who then pair up when she deserts them both, before all three end up together.{{refn| Coward recorded that while he was refining his original ideas for the play, "Alfred had suggested a few stage directions which if followed faithfully, would undoubtedly have landed all three of us in gaol".<ref>Coward, unnumbered introductory page</ref>|group=n}} The combination of the risqué subject and the popularity of the three stars caused box-office records to be broken, and reportedly earned Fontanne and her co-stars the highest salaries paid on Broadway to that time.<ref>Hoare, p. 251</ref>

The immense success of ''Design for Living'' led Coward to write another play for his friends, but his ''[[Point Valaine]],'' in which Fontanne and Lunt starred in 1934, was a failure. Coward set out to write an uncharacteristically serious drama, but the grim plot and unsympathetic characters did not appeal to audiences used to seeing the Lunts in glamorous and romantic roles; Fontanne's prediction that the play would only run for a matter of weeks proved correct. It was the only outright failure of the Lunts' joint career.<ref>Hoare, p. 264</ref>

=== 1934 to 1945 ===
Between the two Coward plays in New York, Fontanne and Lunt played in London, in ''Reunion in Vienna'', repeating their American success with the piece. ''[[The Times]]'' commented:{{blockindent|The suspense and rhythm of the playing, the variety of the emphasis, preserve a tension very rare in an entertainment as light and, at root, as frivolous as this. Miss Fontanne is all a-glitter; Mr Lunt faultless in direction and speed.<ref>"Lyric Theatre", ''The Times'', 4 January 1934, p. 8</ref>|}}
For the rest of the 1930s Fontanne and her husband appeared in Guild productions. In 1935 they played Katherina and Petruchio in ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]''; in 1936 they starred in a new Sherwood play, ''Idiot's Delight''; in 1937 they took the leading roles in [[S. N. Behrman]]'s adaptation of [[Jean Giraudoux]]'s comedy ''Amphitryon 38''; and in 1938 they played Arkadina and Trigorin in ''[[The Seagull]]'' on Broadway and took the production of ''Amphitryon 38'' to London, before touring it extensively in the US in repertory with ''Idiot's Delight'' and ''The Seagull''.<ref name=ww/>

The Lunts had a country estate in [[Genesee Depot, Wisconsin|Genesee Depot]], Wisconsin, close to where Lunt had grown up. It was their summer home, where they entertained a great many theatrical friends and colleagues over the decades. [[Carol Channing]] later said "Genesee Depot is to performers what the Vatican is to Catholics".<ref>Peters, p. 310</ref> They gave up their usual summer break there during the latter part of the [[Second World War]], because at Fontanne's behest the couple moved to England. She felt she should share the hardships of her family and friends there, and from 1943 to 1945 the Lunts appeared in the West End, and in performances for the troops, including a tour of army camps in France and Germany in 1945.<ref name=anb/><ref>Peters, p. 218</ref>

===Later years and death===
[[File:Alfred Lunt Lynn Fontanne 1950.JPG|Lunt and Fontanne in 1950|thumb|alt=middle-aged white couple smiling at the camera, she leaning over his shoulder]]
[[File:Ten Chimneys - Main House 1.jpg|"Ten Chimneys", the Lunts' house in [[Genesee Depot, Wisconsin]]|thumb|alt=large country house exterior]]
After the war Fontanne and Lunt returned to the US and resumed their association with the Theatre Guild. They appeared in 1946–47 in [[Terence Rattigan]]'s comedy ''[[Love In Idleness]]'' (given on Broadway under the title ''O Mistress Mine''), and in 1949–50 in ''[[I Know My Love]]'', Berhman's adaptation of ''Auprès de ma blonde'' by [[Marcel Achard]]; these productions ran for 482 and 247 performances respectively.<ref>[https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/o-mistress-mine-1767 "O Mistress Mine"], and [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/i-know-my-love-2131 "I Know My Love"], Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 26 August 2021</ref> The Lunts toured the latter throughout the US. They returned to England in 1952 for their third and final Coward premiere, ''[[Quadrille (play)|Quadrille]]'', a romantic comedy set in the 1870s. After a West End run of 329 performances they took the play to Broadway in 1954, where it ran for 159 performances; it could have profitably run for longer, but the Lunts chose to close in March 1955.<ref>Day, p. 564</ref>

Fontanne and Lunt's last Broadway premiere was in [[Howard Lindsay]] and [[Russel Crouse]]'s "melodramatic comedy" ''The Great Sebastians'' in 1956. After a six-month run in New York they toured the piece throughout the US. Their final production was in 1957: ''[[The Visit (play)|The Visit]]'', [[Maurice Valency]]'s adaptation of [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]]'s ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'', in which a rich old woman exacts a terrible revenge on the man who betrayed her fifty years earlier. They toured the play in Britain in 1957–58, initially under the title ''Time and Again'', in a production directed by [[Peter Brook]]. In May 1958 they opened the [[Lunt-Fontanne Theatre]] in New York with the same play (by then renamed ''The Visit'') and toured it in the US.<ref name=ww/> In June 1960, in Brook's production, they opened the new [[Peacock Theatre|Royalty Theatre]], London in June 1960, running until 19 October.<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 19 October 1960, p. 2</ref> After a final week playing the piece at the [[Golders Green Hippodrome]] in November<ref>"Theatres", ''The Times'', 4 November 1960, p. 2</ref> they retired from the stage.<ref name=anb/>

Lunt died on 3 August 1977. Fontanne died in Genesee Depot on 30 July 1983, aged 95, from [[pneumonia]], and was interred next to her husband at [[Forest Home Cemetery]] in [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin.<ref name=nyt>[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/31/obituaries/lynn-fontanne-is-dead-at-95-a-star-with-lunt-for-37-years.html "Lynn Fontanne is Dead at 95; A Star with Lunt for 37 Years"], ''The New York Times'', 31 July 1983. Retrieved 17 April 2014.</ref>