Alison Skipworth

Who was Alison Skipworth?

Alison Skipworth was an English stage and screen actress. She was born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom in London.

Skipworth made her first stage appearance at Daly's Theatre in London in 1894, in A Gaiety Girl. Her first American performance came the following year at the Broadway Theatre in New York City. She sang in light opera in An Artist's Model. In this production she served as understudy to Marie Tempest. After performing in two London plays, Skipworth returned to the United States, and made it her home. She joined the company of Daniel Frohman at the Lyceum. There she made her debut as Mrs. Ware in The Princess and the Butterfly in 1897.

In 1905 and 1906 Skipworth toured with Viola Allen in three productions of Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night and As You Like It. In the following years she played with James K. Hackett and John Drew, Jr., among other theatre celebrities. Productions in which she was featured are The Swan, The Enchanted April, The Grand Duchess and the Waiter, Mrs. Dane's Defence and Marseilles.

Skipworth appeared in her first film in 1912, A Mardi Gras Mix-Up. The same year she performed in The Pilgrimage, Into the Jungle, and A Political Kidnapping. She excelled in the new sound medium in films which arrived at the close of the 1920s. In 1930 she made her first talkie, Strictly Unconventional.