Editing Eva Moore

{{Short description|English actress (1868–1955)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
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{{About|the English actress}}
[[File:Eva Moore. W. & D. Downey.jpg|thumb|Eva Moore in the 1890s]]
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'''Eva Moore''' (9 February 1868 – 27 April 1955) was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the [[women's suffrage]] movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, ''Exits and Entrances'', she describes approximately ninety of her roles in plays, but she continued to act on stage until 1945. She also acted in more than two dozen films. Her daughter, [[Jill Esmond]], was the first wife of [[Laurence Olivier]].

==Early life and career==
Moore was born and educated in [[Brighton]], Sussex, the eighth of ten children, the last of whom was the actress [[Decima Moore]]. Her parents were the [[Pharmacist|chemist]] Edward Henry Moore and his wife, Emily (née Strachan) Moore. She attended Miss Pringle's school in Brighton and then studied gymnastics and dancing in [[Liverpool]]. Returning to [[Brighton]], she taught dancing. 

In 1891 she married actor/playwright [[Henry V. Esmond]] (1869–1922). They had three children: Jack (an actor), Jill (the actress [[Jill Esmond]], first wife of [[Laurence Olivier]]) and Lynette, who did not survive infancy. Her husband wrote more than a dozen plays in which she appeared, and they appeared together in more than a dozen plays.<ref name=DNB>Joannou, Maroula. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/63879 "Moore, Eva (1868–1955)"], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 10 February 2011</ref>

[[File:Eva-moore-1894.jpg|thumb|left|upright|In ''[[Little Christopher Columbus]]'', 1894]]
Moore made her first stage appearance at London's [[Vaudeville Theatre]] on 15 December 1887, as Varney in ''Proposals''. She next joined [[John Lawrence Toole|Toole's]] company and appeared at [[Toole's Theatre]] on 26 December of that year as the Spirit of Home in ''Dot''. In 1888, she was back at the Vaudeville in a play with her sisters Jessie and Decima, ''Partners'', by [[Robert Williams Buchanan]]. In 1890, she created the role of the countess of Drumdurris in the [[Arthur Wing Pinero]] play ''[[The Cabinet Minister]]'' at the Court Theatre. In 1892, she appeared as Minestra in the comic opera ''[[The Mountebanks]]'' by ''[[W. S. Gilbert]]'' and ''[[Alfred Cellier]]''. The next year, she created the role of Pepita in the long-running ''[[Little Christopher Columbus]]''.<ref>Johnson, Colin M. [http://www.gsarchive.net/british/columbus/index.html ''Little Christopher Columbus''], The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2006, accessed 31 March 2018</ref> 

In 1894, she joined [[Charles Hawtrey (stage actor)|Charles Hawtrey]] and [[Lottie Venne]] in [[F. C. Burnand]]'s ''A Gay Widow''.<ref>Sharp, Robert Farquharson. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1DwVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA227 ''A short history of the English stage''], Walter Scott Publishing, 1909</ref> Other stage roles included Mabel Vaughn in ''The Wilderness'' (1901); Lady Ernestone in Esmond's ''My Lady Cirtue'' and Wilhelmina Marr in his ''Billy's Little Love Affair'' (both 1903); and Kathie in ''Old Heidelberg'' (1902 and 1909) with [[George Alexander (actor)|George Alexander]]. In 1907, she took the name part in ''Sweet Kitty Bellaire'' (1907) and played Mrs. Errol in ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'', Mrs. Crowley in ''The Explorer'' in 1908, the Hon. Mrs. Bayle in ''Best People'' and Mrs. Rivers in ''The House Opposite'' in 1909.{{cn|date=April 2015}}

==Later years and films==
[[File:Eva Moore & Henry Vernon Esmond.jpg|thumb|right|Moore with her husband [[Henry V. Esmond]]]]
Moore was active in the suffrage movement (as was her sister Decima), attending meetings and appearing in suffragist plays and films.<ref>Crawford, Elizabeth. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wo89DfZ-T6AC&pg=PA424 ''The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866–1928''], p. 424, Routledge (2001); {{ISBN|0-415-23926-5}}</ref> She was a founder of the [[Actresses' Franchise League]] in 1908 but resigned from that organisation when other members objected to her acting in a sketch called "Her Vote", by her husband, in which the heroine prefers kisses to votes.<ref name=DNB/> Moore later managed her husband's comedy ''Eliza Comes to Stay'', which opened at the [[Criterion Theatre]] on 12 February 1913, transferring to the [[Vaudeville Theatre]] on 6 July 1914, and then took the play to New York City for an unsuccessful run. After the First World War began, she continued acting at the Vaudeville in the evenings but worked as a volunteer during the day for the [[Women's Emergency Corps]], based at the [[Little Theatre in the Adelphi|Little Theatre]].{{cn|date=April 2015}}

She raised money for hospital and wartime causes and was honoured with the ordre de la Reine Elisabeth for her wartime activities. At the [[Royalty Theatre]], she played Mrs. Culver in the 1918 play ''The Title'', by [[Arnold Bennett]], where she also played Mrs. Etheridge in ''Caesar's Wife'' by [[W. Somerset Maugham]] and the title role in ''[[Mumsie (play)|Mumsie]]''. In October 1920, she and Esmond began an extensive tour of Canada with [[Nigel Bruce]] as their stage manager, who played Montague Jordan in ''Eliza Comes to Stay'', which re-opened at the [[Duke of York's Theatre]] in London on 14 June 1923.<ref name=DNB/>

From 1920 to 1946, Moore made over two dozen films, beginning with ''The Law Divine'' (1920). Some of her best-received silent films were ''[[Flames of Passion]]'' (1922), ''[[The Great Well]]'' (1924), ''[[Chu-Chin-Chow (1925 film)|Chu-Chin-Chow]]'' (1925) and ''[[Motherland (1927 film)|Motherland]]'' (1927). Her most popular 'talkies' included ''[[Almost a Divorce]]'' (1931), ''[[The Old Dark House (1932 film)|The Old Dark House]]'' (1932), ''[[Leave It to Smith]]'' (1933), ''[[I Was a Spy]]'' (1933), ''[[Jew Suss (1934 film)|Jew Süss]]'' (1934), ''[[A Cup of Kindness (film)|A Cup of Kindness]]'' (1934), ''[[Vintage Wine]]'' (1935), ''[[The Divorce of Lady X]]'' (1938, which starred her son-in-law [[Laurence Olivier]]) and ''[[Of Human Bondage (1946 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1946).<ref>Parker, pp. 1060–62, 1628</ref>

Moore published her reminiscences, ''Exits and Entrances'', in 1923 but continued to act until 1945. In later years, she resided at [[Bisham]], [[Maidenhead]], Berkshire, England, dying of [[myocardial degeneration]] at age 87.<ref name=DNB/>

==Notes==
{{Portal|Biography|England|Film|Theater}} 
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Parker, John (editor), ''Who's Who in the Theatre'', 10th revised edition, London (1947)

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{IMDb name|0601196}}
*{{IBDB name|53531}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Eva}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English silent film actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from Brighton]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]