Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
(1893-1980), ActressSitter in 90 portraits
Singer and actress. Courtneidge's first starring role was in The Mousmé (1911) as Miyo ko San, singing 'Little Japanese Mama'. Many roles followed, most often with her husband, Jack Hulbert. They came to the Gaiety Theatre in 1926 in Rodgers and Hart's Lido Lady, in which she introduced 'A Tiny Flat Near Soho Square'. After 1930 she divided her time between stage and screen, her films including Soldiers of the King and Under Your Hat. Wartime successes Full Swing, (1942) and Something In the Air (1943) led to Under the Counter which she took to Broadway. In Ivor Novello's final show, Gay's the Word (1951) she found her signature tune, 'Vitality!'. She was created a Dame in 1972.
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
half-plate glass negative, 1904
NPG x767
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge as 'Eileen Cavanagh' in 'The Arcadians'
by Foulsham & Banfield, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
postcard print, 1909 or 1910
NPG x201024
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Foulsham & Banfield, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
bromide postcard print, 1910s
NPG Ax160358
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Foulsham & Banfield
bromide postcard print, 1910s
NPG Ax160359
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x18903
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x18904
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x18905
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19176
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19177
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19178
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19179
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19180
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19181
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19182
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19183
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19184
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19185
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19186
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19187
Dame (Esmerelda) Cicely Courtneidge
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 8 March 1911
NPG x19188
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