Maudi Darrell (born Maud Rhoda Didcott, 10 February 1882 – 31 October 1910) was an English actress on the London and New York stages, and a performer in vaudeville. She was one of the fashionable young women known as "Gaiety Girls".
Early life Maud Rhoda Didcott was born in London in 1882, the daughter of Hugh Jay Didcott and Rose Fox. Her father was a theatrical agent, and her mother was a dancer who had a novelty act involving singing while skipping rope.Henry George Hibbert, Fifty Years of a Londoner's Life (Dodd, Mead & Company 1916): 110, 145.John Hollingshead, Gaiety Chronicles (A. Constable & Company 1898): 345-347. Her father was Jewish, but Maudi Didcott was educated at the Sion House Convent at Bayswater."Actress's Sad Fate" The Northwestern Advocate and Emu Bay Times (January 7, 1911): 2.via Trove Her sister Violet Raye was also an actress.Richard Anthony Baker, British Music Hall: An Illustrated History (Pen & Sword 2014): 215. "A Chat with Miss Violet Raye" The Sketch (October 31, 1894): 45.
Career
Maudi Darrell appeared in popular musicals and comedies, including The Beauty of Bath (1906),"The Story of the Beauty of Bath" The Play Pictorial 45(7)(1906): 141-143. Mrs. Ponderbury's Past (1907),Photo caption, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (August 24, 1907): 1066. The Cassilis Engagement (1907),"Heard in the Green Room" The Sketch (February 13, 1907): 148. The Gay Gordons (1908), and The Belle of Brittany (1908)."It's Daffodil Time in Brittany" New York Star (November 28, 1908): 14. Her signature song was "By the Side of the Zuyder Zee", from The Beauty of Bath.Seymour Hicks, Twenty-Four Years of An Actor's Life (John Lane Co. 1911): 312. She was a popular "postcard actress", with portraits of her sold in postcard format. "Her appearance has the peculiar exotic beauty of a Beardsley drawing," noted one critic, "if she appealed to a boy at all, she would appeal with great force.""Mr. St. John Hankins' Comedy at the Stage Society" The Academy (February 16, 1907): 169. She had a valuable collection of diamonds, and the "Maharaja of Kuch Behar" (Sir Nripendra Narayan) presented Miss Darrell with "the finest emerald in England", in admiration for her beauty."Maudi Darrell Dies in English Home" The Inter Ocean (November 6, 1910): 9. via Newspapers.com
Personal life Maudi Darrell married Scottish-born mill owner Ian Bullough in 1909."Maudi Darrell, Spinster No Longer" The Sketch (March 31, 1909): 367."Wedding Interest London" New York Times (March 28, 1909): C1. She died the following year, from complications of a paralysis of unknown origin and acute appendicitis, aged 28 years. Her widower married again in 1911, to actress Lily Elsie."'The Dollar Princess' Who Took the Dollars" Oregon Daily Journal (December 3, 1911): 65. via Newspapers.com There were reports that Elsie fell ill from the same illness as Maudi Darrell, almost immediately after marrying Bullough.
References
External links The National Portrait Gallery, London, has three postcard portraits of Maudi Darrell.