Clare Greet


Clare Greet was an English stage and film actress.
She began on stage in Shakespeare with the Ben Greet Company and later played many roles in the West End between 1907 and 1938. The premieres in which she played included Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, Major Barbara and Androcles and the Lion. She appeared in films between 1921 and 1939.

Life and career

Clare Greet was born on 14 June 1871, the daughter of John Greet and his wife Fanny. She was educated privately at Leamington Spa and then attended the Girls' College, Brighton. She studied for the stage under Hermann Vezin, Emile Behnke, and Ben Greet. She made her first appearance on the stage in 1891 with the Ben Greet Company, in which she played numerous parts in Shakespearean plays and old comedy. She was then engaged by John Hare for the Garrick Theatre, where she understudied; she subsequently toured with him, and then with William Calvert and subsequently with Grace Hawthorne, as Stephanie in A Royal Divorce, and Antonin in Theodora .
In 1893 Greet played an engagement at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel, where she appeared as Louisa Anne Ferguson in The English Rose, Joyce in East Lynne, Minnie in Nance, Peggy Chudleigh in The Harbour Lights and Moya in The Shaughraun. She made her first appearance in the West End at the Strand on 10 May 1894, as Hetty in The Love Letter. In the same year she was engaged at the Avenue as understudy in Arms and the Man, in which she appeared as Louka on several occasions.
Greet toured in the US with Lillian Russell, and in the British provinces with May Fortescue and next toured as Mrs. Bagot in Trilby, and subsequently as Madame Vinard. She toured with Sidney Brough as Mrs Pomfret in The Paper Chase, and toured in South Africa in Two Little Vagabonds, East Lynne, Confusion and The Two Orphans. Her later West End roles were:
RoleDateTheatre
April 1898Supernumerary in The Club BabyAvenue
October 1903Lisette in The Duchess of DantzicLyric
1905–06Emmy in The Doctor's Dilemma
Rummy Mitchens in Major Barbara
Amy Watersmith in The Convict on the Hearth
Queer in Prunella		Court
March 1907Lady Helda in My DarlingHicks
May 1908Susan Pottle in Feed the BruteRoyalty
December 1908Miss Deans in The Last of the De MullinsHaymarket
December 1908Tulpe in HanneleHis Majesty's
June 1909Nan Curtis in Kit's WomanCourt
November 1909Mary Byrne in The Tinker's WeddingHis Majesty's
January 1910Mrs Fisherick in Tilda's New Hat and Mrs Hoskins in The Parent's ProgressPrince of Wales's
April 1910Mrs Duckett in The Naked TruthWyndham's
February 1911Mrs Mason in All that MattersHaymarket
November 1911Martha in The War GodHis Majesty's
December 1911Kvashnya in The Lower DepthsKingsway
December 1911Mrs Spiers in Esther WatersApollo
February 1912Mrs Upjohn in The "Mind the Paint" GirlDuke of York's
June 1912Mrs Bedwin in Oliver TwistHis Majesty's
May 1913Mrs Clegg in Jane CleggCourt
September 1913Megaera in Androcles and the LionSt James's
October 1913Bente in The WitchSt James's
December 1913Gina Ekdal in The Wild Duck and Mrs Pargetter in NanSt James's
April 1915Mrs Burtenshaw in Keeping Up AppearancesSavoy
May 1915Frieda Grunau in The Day Before the DaySt James's
December 1915Mrs Bunting in Who is He ?Haymarket
April 1916Mrs Chope in The Mayor of TroyHaymarket
June 1916Jane in the "all-star" cast of The Admirable CrichtonColiseum and London Opera House
July 1916Mrs Clugston in The RottersGarrick
December 1917Mrs Bodfish in the "all-star" cast of The Man from Blankley'sHis Majesty's
September 1918Mrs Beckett in A Week EndKingsway
December 1918Mrs Lester Keene in ScandalStrand
April 1919Mary Scattergood in Time to Wake UpNew Theatre
September 1919Mrs Cook in Too Many CooksSavoy
December 1919toured in Holland and Belgium in Mid-Channel and CandidaSavoy
March 1920Maggie Hey in Tom TroubleHolborn Empire
June 1920Mrs Brewberry in The Old HouseCourt
June 1921Mrs Ritchie in The Wrong NumberDuke of York's
April 1922The Cook in WindowsCourt
July 1922Mrs Clegg in Jane CleggNew
December 1922Mrs Hawley in Hawley's of the High Street and Mrs Horton in Through the CrackApollo
January 1923Mrs Hazard in Plus FoursHaymarket
March 1923Mrs Carlton in Marriage by InstalmentsAmbassadors'
October 1923Mrs Midgett in Outward BoundEveryman
December 1924Mrs Glanville in The Tyranny of HomeEveryman
March and May 1925Mrs Drennan in The Round TableQ and Wyndham's
June 1925Innkeeper's Wife in The Man With a Load of MischiefHaymarket
October 1926Burrage in The Rat TrapEveryman
May 1927Mrs Ransome in The Combined MazeRoyalty
September 1927Margaret in The FatherApollo
January 1928Mrs Midgett in Outward BoundPrince of Wales's
February 1928Lady Dodd in Our IdolsLittle
March 1928Bridget O'Rourke in Square CrooksPrince of Wales's
June 1928Mrs Cass in Tell Me the TruthAmbassadors'
November 1928Mrs Hockin in Out of the SeaStrand
April 1929Mrs Bewley in MarinersWyndham's
May 1929Mrs Clegg in Jane CleggWyndham's
May 1930Mrs Flinker in Our OstrichesRoyalty
October 1930Mrs Bothways in Lucky DipComedy
May 1931Mrs Midships in The MantleArts
June 1931Nannie in Marry LeisureHaymarket
May 1932Mrs Hardcastle in She Stoops to ConquerKingsway
December 1932Mrs Puffy in The Streets of LondonAmbassadors'
December 1933Old Woman in What Happened to GeorgeWyndham's
April 1935Lizzie in The Magic CupboardKing's Hammersmith
November 1935Rummy Mitchens in Major BarbaraQ
June 1936Frida in ThistledownChanticleer
October 1936Maid in Plot Twenty-OneEmbassy
December 1937Woodie in Talk of the DevilPiccadilly
June 1938Madame Jus in My Crime"Q"
September 1938Mrs Cross, Senior in The Judge"Q"

Greet died in her sleep at her flat in Chelsea on 14 February 1939, aged 67.

Partial filmography

  • The Rotters as Mrs. Clugson
  • Love at the Wheel as Martha
  • Three Live Ghosts as Mrs. Gubbins
  • Number 13 as Mrs. Peabody
  • The Farmer from Texas as Frau Appelboom
  • The Ring as Fortune Teller
  • The Rising Generation as Cook
  • The Manxman as Mrs. Cregeen
  • Murder! as Member of the Jury
  • Third Time Lucky as Mrs. Scratton
  • Alibi
  • Many Waters as Registry Office Cleaner
  • Lord Babs as Mrs. Parker
  • The Sign of Four as Mrs. Hudson
  • White Face as Mrs. Albert
  • Lord Camber's Ladies as Peach
  • Channel Crossing as Anxious Passenger
  • Mrs. Dane's Defence as Mrs. Bulsom-Porter
  • The Pointing Finger as Landlady
  • Little Friend as Mrs. Parry
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much as Mrs. Brockett
  • Emil and the Detectives as Grandma
  • Maria Marten as Mrs. Marten
  • Royal Eagle
  • Sabotage as Mrs. Jones, Cook
  • St. Martin's Lane as Old Maud
  • Jamaica Inn as Granny Tremarney, Sir Humphrey's Tenant