Editing Lillie Langtry (section)

==Acting career and manager==
[[File:As in a Looking-Glass 1887.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lillie Langtry in character as the adventuress Lena Despard from the 1887 play ''As in a Looking-Glass'']]

In 1881, Langtry was in need of money. Her close friend [[Oscar Wilde]] suggested she try the stage, and Langtry embarked upon a theatrical career.<ref>Langtry, Lillie (2000). ''The Days I Knew.'' Panoply Publications. p. 123.</ref> She first auditioned for an amateur production in the [[Twickenham]] Town Hall on 19 November 1881. It was a comedy two-hander called ''A Fair Encounter'', with [[Henrietta Labouchère]] taking the other role and coaching Langtry in her acting. Labouchère had been a professional actress before she met and married Liberal MP [[Henry Labouchère]].

Following favourable reviews of this first attempt at the stage, and with further coaching, Langtry made her debut before the London public, playing Kate Hardcastle in ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'' at the [[West End theatre|West End]]'s [[Haymarket Theatre]] in December 1881.<ref name=NIE>''[[New International Encyclopedia]]''</ref> Critical opinion was mixed, but she was a success with the public. She next performed in ''Ours'' at the same theatre. Although her affair with the Prince of Wales was over, he supported her new venture by attending several of her performances and helping attract an audience.<ref name="Dudley 1958 Chapters 6/7/8 " />

Early in 1882, Langtry quit the production at the Haymarket and started her own company,<ref>{{cite book|last=Dudley|first=Ernest|title=The Gilded Lily|year=1958|publisher=Oldhams Press|location=London|page=73}}</ref> touring the UK with various plays. She was still under the tutelage of Henrietta Labouchère.<ref name="Dudley 1958 Chapters 6/7/8" >{{cite book|last=Dudley|first=Ernest|title=The Gilded Lily|year=1958|publisher=Odhams Press Limited|location=London|page=Chapters 6–8}}</ref> American impresario [[Henry Eugene Abbey|Henry Abbey]] arranged a tour in the United States for Langtry. She arrived in October 1882 to be met by the press and Oscar Wilde, who was in New York on a lecture tour. Her first appearance was eagerly anticipated, but the theatre burnt down the night before the opening. The show moved to another venue and opened the following week. Eventually, her production company started a coast-to-coast tour of the US, ending in May 1883 with a "fat profit." Before leaving New York, she had an acrimonious break with Henrietta Labouchère over Langtry's relationship with [[Frederick Gebhard]], a wealthy young American.<ref>{{cite book|last=Beatty|first=Laura|title=Lillie Langtry – Manners, Masks and Morals|year=1999|publisher=Vintage|location=London|page=Chapter XXVII Down the Primrose Path}}</ref> Her first tour of the US (accompanied by Gebhard) was an enormous success, which she repeated in subsequent years. While the critics generally condemned her interpretations of roles such as Pauline in ''[[The Lady of Lyons]]'' or [[Rosalind (As You Like It)|Rosalind]] in ''[[As You Like It]]'', the public loved her. After her return from New York in 1883, Langtry registered at the [[Conservatoire de Paris|Conservatoire]] in Paris for six weeks' intensive training to improve her acting technique.<ref>{{cite book|last=Beatty|first=Laura|title=Lillie Langtry – Manners, Masks and Morals|year=1999|publisher=Vintage|location=London|chapter=XXVIII ("Venus in Harness")}}</ref>

In 1889, she took on the part of [[Lady Macbeth]] in Shakespeare's ''[[Macbeth]].'' In 1896 she played the role of Mrs Barry in ''Gossip'', at the Comedy Theatre, London, the play written by Clyde Fitch and Leo Dietrichstein was based on ''suggestions found in a Novel'' by Jules Claretie, 'Monsieur le ministre'. The New York Times thought that ''Mrs Langtry's jewels were worth $100,000; her attire was so wonderful, so dazzling, so recklessly inappropriate -as it seemed- that a murmur of surprise ran through the auditorium''. In 1903, she starred in the US in ''The Crossways'', written by her in collaboration with [[J. Hartley Manners]], husband of actress [[Laurette Taylor]]. She returned to the US for tours in 1906 and again in 1912, appearing in [[vaudeville]]. She last appeared on stage in America in 1917.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19160923.2.229&srpos=6&e=-------en--50--1--txt-txIN-%22Langtry%22-------1|title=Los Angeles Herald 23 September 1916 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}}</ref> Later that year, she made her final appearance in the theatre in London.<ref name="Dudley 1958 Chapters 6/7/8 " />

From 1900 to 1903, with financial support from [[Edgar Israel Cohen]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198811380|title=FORTUNE OF FIVE Millions|newspaper=[[The Evening News (Rockhampton)|The Evening News]]|issue=3752|location=Queensland, Australia|date=14 October 1933|access-date=28 March 2016|page=3|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Langtry became the lessee and manager of London's [[Imperial Theatre, London|Imperial Theatre]]. It opened on 21 April 1901, following an extensive refurbishment.<ref>"Mrs Langtry sold the theatre to Wesleyan Methodists. They later sold [the interior] to the company owning the Royal Albert Music Hall, Canning Town. They reconstructed the theatre stone by stone as the Music Hall of Dockland".<br />Templeman Library, University of Kent at Canterbury</ref> On the site of the theatre is now the [[Westminster Central Hall]]. In a film released in 1913 directed by [[Edwin S. Porter]], Langtry starred opposite [[Sidney Mason]] in the role of Mrs Norton in ''[[His Neighbor's Wife]]'' in what would be her only film appearance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fryer |first1=Paul |title=Women in the Arts in the Belle Epoque: Essays on Influential Artists, Writers and Performers |date=2012 |publisher=McFarland |page=57}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |page=425}}</ref>