Born 1879 in Manningham, Bradford, English actress and singer Gertie Millar performed in London pantomimes, beginning with Babes in the Wood at the St. James Theatre in Manchester, at the age of 13. She started out as a singer and dancer in the music halls of Yorkshire. Later, she moved to London where she was soon earning good notices and better pay appearing in variety show bills.
Millar was a prominent star of musical comedies for two decades. In 1902, she married the composer Lionel Monckton, who wrote the scores of many of her shows and songs that she made famous.
Millar was one of the most prominent West End theatre performers of the early 20th century, starring in such long-running hits as The Toreador (1901), The Orchid (1903), The Spring Chicken (1905), The New Aladdin (1906), The Girls of Gottenberg (1907), Our Miss Gibbs (1909), The Quaker Girl (1910), Gipsy Love (1912), The Dancing Mistress (1912), The Marriage Market (1913) and A Country Girl (1914).
After Monckton died in 1924, Millar married the 2nd Earl of Dudley. Millar (now Lady Dudley), survived her second husband by two decades and died at her home in Chiddingfold in 1952, aged 73.
Take a look at these gorgeous photos to see the beauty of young Gertie Millar in the 1900s and 1910s.
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