Martha Henry

Martha Henry
CC OOnt
Henry as "A" in Three Tall Women in 2021
Born
Martha Kathleen Buhs

(1938-02-17)February 17, 1938
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedOctober 21, 2021(2021-10-21) (aged 83)
Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Other namesMartha Henry-Beattie
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (BFA)
National Theatre School (GrDip)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • theater director
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1962, divorced)​
​
(divorced)​
​
​
(m. 1989, divorced)​
Children1

Martha Kathleen Henry CC OOnt (née Buhs; February 17, 1938 – October 21, 2021) was an American-Canadian actress and director of stage and screen. During her lifetime, she was considered one of her country’s most acclaimed and accomplished thespians.[1][2] She was the first graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada in 1961, and was most noted for her theatre work at the Stratford Festival. She was the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Genie Awards for Best Actress, and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for her contributions to Canadian theatre.

Early life and training

Martha Kathleen Buhs was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 17, 1938.[3][4] Her parents, Kathleen (née Hatch) and Lloyd Howard Buhs, divorced when she was around five years old.[5] She grew up in the northern Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, attended the Kingswood School (today Cranbrook Kingswood School), and graduated from the drama department at Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to Canada in 1959.[6] She later adopted the stage surname Henry, the legal surname of her first husband Donnelly Rhodes, whom she married in 1962.[5]

Henry performed at Toronto's Crest Theatre upon her arrival in Canada, and was soon after accepted into the first class at the National Theatre School in Montreal.[7] In 1961, the Theatre School took its students to Stratford to perform scene selections for the Festival company. Henry caught the attention of Artistic Director Michael Langham, who offered her a spot in the 1962 company based entirely on her performance that day. Accepting the offer would have required Henry to leave the Theatre School part way through the three-year program, however NTS Director Powys Thomas advised her to take the offer, saying she would learn more with the Stratford company than at the Theatre School. She took the offer and was awarded a diploma ahead of the inaugural class, making her the Theatre School's first graduate.[8][9][10]

Leading actress at Stratford

During Henry's first season at the Stratford Festival in 1962, she played Miranda to William Hutt's first Prospero in The Tempest, and Lady Macduff in Macbeth. Between the 1962 and 1980 seasons, she played leading roles in 40 productions, and made her directing debut in 1980. Some of her roles during this time included Cordelia in King Lear (1964), Viola in Twelfth Night (1966), Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968), Desdemona in Othello (1973), Isabella in Measure for Measure (1975-1976), Olga in Three Sisters (1976), Lady Anne in Richard III (1977), and Paulina in The Winter's Tale (1978).[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] During brief periods away from Stratford, Henry performed elsewhere in Canada and abroad, including Manitoba Theatre Centre, Shaw Festival, Broadway, New York's Lincoln Centre, and London's West End.[18][19]

Henry and three other directors (Urjo Kareda, Peter Moss and Pam Brighton) were appointed to lead Stratford's 1981 season after the resignation of Artistic Director Robin Phillips, but the group was dismissed a few months later when the Board of Directors had lined up English stage director John Dexter to replace them. A major uproar ensued across the Canadian arts community, and Immigration Minister Lloyd Axworthy denied Dexter a work permit.[20][21][22] A month later, Canadian director John Hirsch was appointed artistic director for the 1981 season.[23] The "Gang of Four" fallout caused Henry and other Stratford veterans to work away from the Festival for many years, but the enduring result was noted by actor R.H. Thomson as "Stratford turning (a corner) and becoming a deeply Canadian enterprise".[24][25][26]

Directing and later stage career

After 1980, Henry performed and directed at major arts venues across North America, including Tarragon Theatre,[27] Canadian Stage,[28] Globe Theatre,[29] the National Arts Centre, Roy Thompson Hall, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Shaw Festival,[30] Neptune Theatre,[31][32] and Carnegie Mellon University.[33]

Henry was artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, from 1988 to 1995, during which time she programmed a wide variety of contemporary works, including newer plays such as Oleanna by David Mamet, The Rez Sisters by Tomson Highway, and The Stillborn Lover by Timothy Findley.[34][35][36]

Henry's return to the Stratford stage in 1994 as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night was widely acclaimed, and the production was remounted for the 1995 season.[37] A filmed version of the production earned her a Genie Award for Best Actress at the 17th Genie Awards. The return also marked the start of a second lengthy run for Henry at Stratford, with her performing in leading and supporting roles, directing, and instructing. In 2007, she was appointed director of Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, a program that has trained many promising new Canadian actors.[38] Her production of All My Sons by Arthur Miller was included in multiple theatre reviewers' lists of top theatre productions in 2016.[39][40][41] In 2017, she took over leadership of Stratford's Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction.[42]

In 2018, in her 44th season of performing, at age 80, Henry played Prospero in The Tempest, directed by Antoni Cimolino. Chris Jones, theater critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote "in all my years watching shows at this theater, a miragelike fountain of excellence ... I have never seen anything quite like the experience of watching Henry".[43]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Henry played the role of "A" in Three Tall Women by Edward Albee at Stratford's Studio Theatre. In his review of the production, J. Kelly Nestruck of the Globe and Mail said "Henry’s performance is a reminder of how much more daringly theatrical her generation of stage actors – she’s now in her 80s – can be".[44] A stage to screen adaptation of Henry's final performance in Three Tall Women was captured by director Barry Avrich months before Henry died;[45] following its television broadcast in 2022, it received several Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, including a posthumous nod for Henry in the category Best Performance in a Television Film or Miniseries.

Television roles

Notable television roles include Catherine in Empire, Inc.,[46] the prime minister's mother in H2O,[3][47] and the owner of the Chateau Rousseau in Ken Finkleman's At the Hotel.[3] In 1994, she starred in the TV film And Then There Was One.[47][48]

Honours

Henry was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 1981, and promoted to companion in 1990.[49] She was made a member of the Order of Ontario in 1994. Henry received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for her lifetime contribution to Canadian theatre in 1996.[50]

Personal life

Henry's marriages to Rhodes and Douglas Rain ended in divorce.[51][52] She married Rod Beattie and, although they later separated, they remained married until her death.[53] She had one child (Emma) with Rain.[54]

Death

Henry died of cancer shortly after midnight on October 21, 2021, at her home in Stratford, Ontario, twelve days after her final stage appearance in Three Tall Women.[4][52][55]

References

  1. ^ "Martha Henry, Indefatigable Stage Actress, Dies at 83 (Published 2021)". October 26, 2021. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  2. ^ "Martha Henry". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Defelice, James V. (April 7, 2011). "Martha Henry". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (October 26, 2021). "Martha Henry, a Leading Stage Actress in Canada, Dies at 83". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Sperdakos, Paula (Spring 1998). "Acting in Canada: Frances Hyland, Kate Reid, Martha Henry and the Stratford Festival's 1965 The Cherry Orchard". Theatre Research in Canada. 19 (1). doi:10.3138/tric.19.1.35. ISSN 1913-9101. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  6. ^ Base, Ron (October 11, 1986). "Leon Marr's a word-of-mouth success story". Toronto Star. ProQuest 435492698.
  7. ^ Cushman, Robert (October 22, 2021). "Martha Henry, a great tragedienne and comedienne, was always good at endings". National Post. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
  8. ^ "Rockburn Presents - Martha Henry" on YouTube
  9. ^ Nestruck, J. Kelly (May 25, 2018). "Stratford legend Martha Henry on #MeToo and discovering that she short-changed Shakespeare". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  10. ^ "Biography". ww2.ent-nts.ca. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  11. ^ Whittaker, Herbert (June 18, 1964). "Langham's King Lear Truly Monumental". The Globe and Mail. p. 11. ProQuest 1282873555.
  12. ^ Whittaker, Herbert (June 12, 1975). "Measure for Measure restrained and dignified". The Globe and Mail. p. 13. ProQuest 1239614786.
  13. ^ Mallet, Gina (September 2, 1976). "Three Sisters hums with emotion in a superb Stratford production". The Toronto Star. p. E11. ProQuest 1372478215.
  14. ^ Fraser, John (September 2, 1976). "Three Sisters a carefully crafted masterpiece". The Globe and Mail. p. 11. ProQuest 1239408688.
  15. ^ Fraser, John (June 10, 1977). "Richard III: dark byways of the soul". The Globe and Mail. p. 16. ProQuest 1239329460.
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  17. ^ Charlebois, Gaetan (October 23, 2021). "Henry, Martha". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2021.
  18. ^ O'Toole, Lawrence (September 4, 1978). "According to the script: Heralding the arrival of Martha Henry". Maclean's. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  19. ^ Whittaker, Herbert (August 7, 1971). "From who killed Santa Claus? to a French farce at Stratford". The Globe and Mail. p. 21. ProQuest 1241867019.
  20. ^ Conologue, Ray (November 13, 1980). "The Stratford debacle: ignorance bows to fame". The Globe and Mail. p. 7. ProQuest 386748281.
  21. ^ Thompson, Craig (November 19, 1980). "Stratford community fears actors' boycott". The Globe and Mail. p. 15. ProQuest 386863449.
  22. ^ Godfrey, Stephen (November 28, 1980). "Briton can't have permit for Stratford job, minister rules". The Globe and Mail. p. 1. ISSN 0319-0714. ProQuest 1125138471.
  23. ^ Conologue, Ray (December 19, 1980). "Stratford board approves Hirsch". The Globe and Mail. p. 19. ProQuest 386721978.
  24. ^ Knelman, Martin (1982). A Stratford Tempest. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-4542-5. OCLC 8805777.
  25. ^ Theatre Museum Canada - Martha Henry on The Gang of Four, Part 1 on YouTube
  26. ^ Theatre Museum Canada - Martha Henry on The Gang of Four, Part 2 on YouTube
  27. ^ "'Her life became art': Martha Henry remembered for devotion to the stage". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. October 21, 2021. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  28. ^ Ouzounian, Richard (November 22, 2007). "Caution: under construction". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  29. ^ Hill, Gerald (November 10, 2015). A Round for Fifty Years: A History of Regina's Globe Theatre. Coteau Books. p. 64. ISBN 9781550506457. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
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  31. ^ Jennings, Sarah (October 17, 2019). Art and Politics: The History of the National Arts Centre (2nd ed.). McGill–Queen's University Press. p. 332. ISBN 9780773559950. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  32. ^ Richer, Shawna (January 27, 2003). "'Doing what I love to do'". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
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  35. ^ Johnston, Sheila M. F. (2001). Let's Go to the Grand!: 100 Years of Entertainment at London's Grand Theatre. Natural Heritage Books. pp. 224–240. ISBN 978-1-55488-212-0. OCLC 287708546.
  36. ^ Knelman, Martin (January 14, 1995). "OH, MARTHA!: Grand Theatre's outgoing artistic director Martha Henry hopes to leave her audiences feeling uncomfortable". Financial Post. p. 20. ProQuest 441657452.
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  40. ^ Fricker, Karen; Maga (December 27, 2016). "The year in theatre: A versatile and creative 2016". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  41. ^ Cushman, Robert (December 28, 2016). "The very best of this year's theatre". National Post. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
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  50. ^ "Martha Henry biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Archived from the original on February 18, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
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  53. ^ Cushman, Robert (October 22, 2021). "Martha Henry, a great tragedienne and comedienne, was always good at endings". National Post. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
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Further reading