South African actress (1896–1970)
Marda Vanne (born Margaretha van Hulsteyn; 27 September 1896 – 27 April 1970) was a South African actress who found fame in London.
Early life.
Margaretha was born in Pretoria, South African Republic to Sir Willem and Lady van Hulsteyn. Sir Willem was born in The Netherlands in 1865 and emigrated to South Africa at the age of fifteen. Sir William became a leading lawyer in Johannesburg and later a member of the South African Parliament for many years. During the South African War, he became an advisor to Lord Milner, the Governor of the Cape Colony, and was knighted by King Edward VII in 1902.
In her childhood, she had the nickname Scrappy. She performed as Scrappy van Hulsteyn in her early stage career in South Africa, before heading to London.
Margaretha was briefly married to politician Johannes Gerhardus "Hans" Strijdom in 1924, but the couple divorced within the year. Strijdom later went on to serve as Prime Minister of South Africa from 1954-58.
In 1914, Vanne met Isaac Rosenberg in Cape Town, who was on a visit to South Africa. He took a shine to her and drew a charcoal sketch of her. He also gave her a copy of his poem "If You Are Fire, and I Am Fire" and wrote a number of passionate love-poems at the time, which seem to have been inspired by her.
London.
Margaretha took Marda Vanne as a stage name in 1918 when she headed to London. Vanne moved to London to build on her acting career and studied speech training and drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. After graduating she met director Basil Dean who recognised her talent and she had a successful career in the West End. She also performed on Broadway in Noël Coward's "Easy Virtue" (1925), directed by Dean, and "Many Waters" (1929) by Monckton Hoffe.
Vanne became a good friend of Alec Waugh, the brother of Evelyn Waugh. Alec noted in one of his books that Marda tended to be cast in supporting roles. He suggested that it was because she "lacked sex appeal on stage. ... She lacked lightness. She did not look embraceable. I pictured her in more emotional roles, as a mature woman." He wrote that although she had several affairs with men, her main interest was women. John Gielgud became a good friend of Vanne and mentions her in his writings.
South African company.
In London, Vanne formed a professional and personal partnership with the actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies that lasted until her death in 1970. The couple founded a theatre company in South Africa, at the outbreak of World War II, when most of the London theatres were dark. They toured the provinces, including appearances at the Hoffmeyer Theatre in Cape Town. There they performed their production of "Twelfth Night" in which Marda played Maria and Gwen played Olivia. They also produced and acted in the play "Quality Street" by James Barrie. They played 44 towns in fifteen weeks and made a small profit. Vanne appeared as Madame Arcati in a production of "Blithe Spirit" in Johannesburg, and she and Ffrangcon-Davies brought their production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" to the Alhambra Theatre in Cape Town in 1945.
In 1950, Vanne directed an Afrikaans translation of "Grumpy", by Horace Hodges and T. Wigney Percyval called "Oupa Brompie" for the National Theatre Organisation (NTO) of South Africa.
They produced "The Dam" by South African writer Guy Butler in 1952, which the author criticised for portraying the Coloured (mixed-race) characters as caricatures.
Death.
Vanne gained British Citizenship in 1965. She died of cancer in 1970 in London.
Personal life.
Although she married a man early in life and had other relationships with men, her longest relationship was with a woman. Vanne was the partner for many decades of British actress Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies.
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