Athene Seyler


Athene Seyler was an English actress.

Early life

She was born in Hackney, London; her German-born grandparents moved to the United Kingdom, where her grandfather Philip Seyler was a merchant in London. Athene Seyler was educated at Coombe Hill School in Surrey, a progressive co-educational school which disliked petitionary prayer and whose advanced biology classes studied Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Seyler took part in an anti-blood sports demonstration, during which pupils captured the fox from the local hunt.
She was also active in the South Place Ethical Society during the 1920s, where her father Clarence H. Seyler took his family for many years to hear Moncure Conway lecture as an alternative to attending a religious Sunday service. Clarence ran a class for the study of Herbert Spencer, contributed to the South Place magazine on rationalist matters and wrote a treatise on birth control which he circulated privately among his family.

Career

Seyler first appeared on the stage in 1909, and was initially known as a stage actress. She made her film debut in 1921, and subsequently became known for playing slightly dotty old ladies in many British films from the 1930s to the 1960s.
In 1933, Seyler together with Nicholas Hannen, took a company which included Hannen's daughter by his first marriage, Hermione Hannen, on a well-received tour of the Far East and Australia.
Her stage credits included Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals, Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and a double-act, with her good friend Dame Sybil Thorndike, as the murderous spinster sisters in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Her film and television career lasted into the 1960s, and included roles in The Citadel, Night of the Demon and The Avengers. She was also a regular cast member in screen adaptations of Charles Dickens' novels. Although her silent film appearance in Pickwick is missing, she played the elderly fiancée in The Pickwick Papers. She was cast as a Chinese woman in Passport to China.
Seyler virtually retired from acting after 1970 but continued making public appearances until well into the 1980s, and as a guest of Terry Wogan on his eponymous BBC chat show. In 1988, at the age of 99, she was the castaway on radio's Desert Island Discs. In 1990, at the age of 101, she appeared at the National Theatre, talking about her long life and career.
Athene Seyler was President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1950, and a member of the Theatrical Ladies' Guild. She also wrote The Craft of Comedy.

Honours and awards

She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1959. In 1989 she was honoured as "Personality of the Century" by the Grand Order of Water Rats.

Marriages and relationships

On 14 February 1914, she married James Bury Sterndale-Bennett, a grandson of the composer Sir William Sterndale Bennett, and they had a daughter, Jane Ann.
In 1922, she met and started living with fellow actor Nicholas "Beau" Hannen, son of Sir Nicholas Hannen. Hannen was married, and his wife refused a divorce. In 1928, Seyler formally changed her name to Athene Hannen, but she continued to use Seyler professionally. In 1960, she and Hannen were married after his wife died. At the age of 90, Seyler told the interviewer David McGillivray that "she hadn't been made a Dame because for most of her life she lived with a man who wasn't her husband."

Portraits

The British National Portrait Gallery has numerous photos of Seyler.
The Australian National Portrait Gallery website has a portrait of Hannen and Seyler together.

Death

Athene Seyler died in 1990, aged 101, and her ashes were placed in the Hannen Columbarium in St Mary's Churchyard, Wargrave.

Selected stage performances

Harvey – with Sid Field, then Leslie HensonWatch on the RhineLady Windermere's FanMavourneen by Louis N. Parker The Iron Duchess by William Douglas Home The Reluctant Peer by William Douglas Home The RivalsRomeo and JulietThe Cherry Orchard

Filmography

The Adventures of Mr. Pickwick – Rachel WardleThis Freedom – Miss KeggsThe Perfect Lady – Lady WesthavenTell Me Tonight – Mrs. PateggEarly to Bed – Frau WeiserBlossom Time – Archduchess Maria VictoriaThe Private Life of Don Juan – Theresa, the Innkeeper, a Middle Aged Lady of Young SentimentThe Rocks of Valpre – Aunt PhilippaRoyal Cavalcade – Queen Elizabeth IDrake of England – Queen ElizabethMoscow Nights – Madame Anna SablineScrooge – Scrooge's charwomanIt's Love Again – Mrs. DurlandSouthern Roses – Mrs. RowlandIrish for Luck – The DuchessSensation – Madame HenryThe Mill on the Floss – Mrs. Pullet The Lilac Domino – Madame AlaryNon-Stop New York – Aunt VeronicaSailing Along – Victoria GulliverJane Steps Out – GrandmaThe Citadel – Lady RaebankThe Ware Case – Mrs. PintoThe Sky's the Limit – Miss PrinneyThe Saint in London – Mrs. BuckleyYoung Man's Fancy – MillinerTilly of Bloomsbury – Mrs. BanksThe House of the Arrow – Quiet Wedding – Aunt MaryDear Octopus – Aunt BelleThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – Miss La CreevyThe First Gentleman – Miss KnightThe Queen of Spades – Princess IvashinThe Franchise Affair – Aunt LinYoung Wives' Tale – Nanny GallopSecret People – Mrs. Reginald KellickTreasure Hunt – Consuelo HowardMade in Heaven – Miss Rosabelle HoneycroftThe Pickwick Papers – Miss WitherfieldThe Beggar's Opera – Mrs. TrapesThe Weak and the Wicked – Millie Williams, inmateFor Better, for Worse – Miss MainbraceAs Long as They're Happy – Mrs. ArbuthnotYield to the Night – Miss BlighDoctor at Large – Lady HawkinsHow to Murder a Rich Uncle – GrannieCampbell's Kingdom – Miss AbigailNight of the Demon – Mrs. KarswellA Tale of Two Cities – Miss Emily ProssHappy Is the Bride – Aunt HarrietThe Inn of the Sixth Happiness – Jeannie LawsonMake Mine Mink – Dame Beatrice Appleby DBEA French Mistress – Beatrice PeakeVisa to Canton – Mao Tai TaiFrancis of Assisi – Aunt BuonaThe Devil Never Sleeps – Sister AgnessTwo and Two Make Six – Aunt Phoebe TonksI Thank a Fool – Aunt HeatherThe Girl on the Boat – Mrs. Adelaide HignettNurse on Wheels – Miss Farthingale

Selected television and radio performances

The Avengers episode entitled "Maneater of Surrey Green" ITV Production 1965The Iron Duchess by William Douglas-Home, BBC radio, broadcast 1966The Reluctant Peer by William Douglas-Home, BBC radio, broadcast 1967

Publications