Barry, Elizabeth (1658–1713)

English actress, one of the most famous of her time. Name variations: Mrs. Barry. Born in 1658; died on November 7, 1713; children: a child with Lord Rochester and a second with Sir George Etheredge.

One of the most famous tragic actresses of her time, Elizabeth Barry also created over 100 roles in comedy, including Lady Brute in The Provoked Wife. Though details of Barry's early life are sketchy, it is known that she was so unsuccessful on stage initially that she was fired more than once. Then, her former lover, the Earl of Rochester, placed a monetary wager that in a short time, with his coaching, he could turn her into a first-rate actress. Barry was worth the wager. Her 1673 performance as Isabella, queen of Hungary, in the earl of Orrery's Mustapha, was said to have caused Charles II and the duke and duchess of York (James II and Anne Hyde ) so much delight that the duchess took lessons in English from her. So impressed was the duchess that when she became queen she loaned Barry her coronation robes in which Barry then appeared as Elizabeth II in Banks' Earl of Essex. Barry was particularly successful in the plays of Thomas Otway. Thomas Betterton claimed that her acting gave "success to plays that would disgust the most patient reader," while John Dryden pronounced her "always excellent." Colley Cibber maintained that it was on Barry's behalf that benefits—which up to that time had only been given for authors—were first established for actors by command of James II. Barry had one child by Lord Rochester and a second by Sir George Etheredge, both children were provided for by their fathers. Mrs. Barry retired from the stage in 1709, four years before her death on November 7, 1713, and burial at Acton. It was Elizabeth Barry, not Ann Street Barry , who was known as "the great Mrs. Barry."