Beatrice Mary Beckley (4 June 1882 – 8 February 1959) was an English-born American actress of stage and screen.[3]
Beckley was born in Hampstead, London, to Lt. Col. Thomas Beckley and Emily Margaretta Hernulewicz.[4][5] She was trained by Geneviève Ward. Her first appearance on the stage was in an amateur production of W S Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea at Hampstead Town Hall.[6] She made her stage debut in London in a 1901 production of H. V. Esmond's The Wilderness[7] before moving to the United States.[8] She spent four seasons with the company of James K. Hackett, before marrying him in a lawyer's office in Milwaukee on 16 December 1911.[8][9]
Beckley appeared in many theater productions in the United States, including main roles in The Walls of Jericho, Samson, and The Prisoner of Zenda, opposite Hackett.[9][10] She also reprised her stage roles in film adaptations of The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) and Should a Husband Forgive? (1919).[8]
When her husband died in Paris on 8 November 1926, he was cremated there, and his ashes taken for interment in the family vault at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York.[11] Beckley inherited a life interest in most of Hackett's property[12] and more than $273,000 USD.[13] When she died her estate was valued at £5127.
She died of complications from Parkinson's disease at the Hôtel du Louvre in Monte Carlo, aged 73.[14]
References
^Staff (December 18, 1911). "Weds James K. Hackett". The Washington Post. p. 1. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^Special correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor (22 March 1921). "Beatrice Beckley: an interview with Mrs James K Hackett". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 12. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
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