ANOTHER TERRY PASSES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 6

ANOTHER TERRY PASSES

LAST OF OLDER FAMILY. LENGTHY STAGE CAREER [from our own correspondent] LONDON, April 30 Mr. Fred Terry, the last of the older generation of Terrys, died suddenly at his home in Hamnstead on Easter Monday at the age of 69. He had been in poor health for some time, and in his last illness he was constantly attended by his wife, Miss Julia Neilson. One of the last occasions on which he appeared in public ,was nearly two months ago, when he sat at the head of a table at which nine members of the famous Terry family were entertained to luncheon by the Forum Club. _ Mr. Terry was born in London on [November 9, 1863, one of a family of 14. Although his father, mother, and four sisters —Kate, Ellen, Marion and Florence—all selected the stage as their profession, lie at first intended to adopt a commercial career. It was Sir Squire Bancroft who turned the young man toward the stage in circumstances which Mr. Terry often used to describe. Sir Squire met _ him one day at the old Prince of Wales Theatre in Tottenham Court Road, where he was waiting for his sister Marion, who was rehearsing in " Money." Finding that Terry was not making much progress in business, Sir Squire gave him a walking-on part in '«M onev" at a guinea a week at the end of Jan-' j uary, 1886. On his first night there was a very hostile audience in the cheaper parts of the house. They j drowned every word the actors said, i and Sir Squire Bancroft had to make ! a speech before the audience permitted the play to be resumed. It was not long before the guinea a | week rose to £3 and then in America to £2O and £3O a week. In these early days Terry played all sorts of parts, J from the Black Admiral in the bur- j lesquo of " Black-eyed Susan " to Joseph Surface. In " Romeo and Juliet " he played every male part except Romeo, the Apothecary, and the Friar, all the male parts in " Much Ado About Nothing" except Benedick and the low comedy characters, and all in the / " School for Scandal " except Sir Peter, Sir Oliver and Moses. Mr; Terry made his last tour in 1930, reviving onre more olrl successes. One of his most famous roles was that of Sir Percy Blakeney in " The Scarlet flayed it something like 3000 times, and his characterisation ' ast occasion was as fresh and Eirile as on the first.