Lupino family


The Lupino family is a British theatre family which traces its roots to an Italian émigré of the early 17th century. The "Lupino" name is derived from two unrelated families:
  • the original Luppino or Lupino family, seventeenth century emigres from Italy to England
  • the later Hook family, which assumed the Lupino surname.
Actress and director Ida Lupino and theatre and movie actor, dancer, singer, acrobat and author Lupino Lane, descend from the Hook line.
Several of the Hook family adopted the surname Lane from Sarah Lane, the director of the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, to whom they were related.

Family descent

Luppino family

Giorgio Luppino came from a family of Italian puppet makers. He fled to England as a political refugee

Hook family

Unrelated dancer George Hook assumed the surname Lupino after working with members of the Lupino family. He became famous in the role of Harlequin and married Rosina Sophia Proctor and had 16 children, at least 10 of whom became professional dancers, two of them marrying into the family of Sara Lane, manager of the Britannia Theatre Hoxton.
Of George Hook Lupino's 16 children:
Other members from this second line include Peter Lupino and Antoinette Lupino, children of Barry Lupino; and Rita Lupino, sister of Ida.
Living descendants of the Lupino family who maintain the family tradition include Sara Lupino Lane, patron of The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America, and Patricia Lupino Thompson. Thompson, former principal of a dance school in Manchester, is now a Fellow, examiner, lecturer, technical committee member and director of the International Dance Teachers Association, and a dance adjudicator for the British Federation of Festivals.