Esme Beringer (5 September 1875 – 31 March 1972) was an English actress who was noted for her fencing skills.
Early life Esme Beringer was born in London, the daughter of pianist Oscar Beringer and novelist and playwright Aimée Daniell Beringer.Johnson Briscoe, "September 5: Esme Beringer" The Actor's Birthday Book (Moffat, Yard 1907): 200. Her younger sister Vera Beringer was best known as a child actress."Vera Beringer" The Era Annual (1897): 29. Her brother Guy Beringer was a journalist; he is credited with coining the word "brunch" in 1895.Jesse Rhodes, "The Birth of Brunch: Where Did This Meal Come from Anyway?" Smithsonian Magazine (May 6, 2011).
Career Esme Beringer first appeared on stage in 1888, as a boy character, Dick Tipton, in Little Lord Fauntleroy (she also substituted for the title character, usually played by her sister). By 1893 she was very active on the London stage. Beringer's athletic physique and extensive training with swords made her well-suited to breeches roles,"Dramatic Notes" Womanhood (October 1901): 433. as when she played Romeo in 1896"A Lady Romeo" The Irish Playgoer and Amusement Record (December 14, 1899): 18. (opposite her sister Vera as Juliet)."The Beringers as Romeo and Juliet" The Sketch (May 13, 1896): 104."Romeo Beringer's Fresh Duel" The Sketch (September 18, 1901): 345. Other stage appearances by Beringer included The Prince and the Pauper (1890), Foreign Policy (1893, by Arthur Conan Doyle), Bud and Blossom (1893, by Gertrude Elizabeth Blood), Three Wayfarers (1893, by Thomas Hardy), Bess (1893), Hypatia (1893), The Gentleman Whip, The New Boy, Loyal, Hal the Highwayman, The Lady's Idol, The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown, The Benefit of the Doubt, The Late Mr. Castello, Gossip (1896), A Mother of Three, Woman's World, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Last of his Race, The Winter's Tale,Dennis Bartholomeusz, "The Winter's Tale" in Performance in England and America, 1611-1976 (Cambridge University Press 1982): 156. Saviolo (1899, by Egerton Castle), The Trifler (1905), The Anarchist (1908),E. F. S., "The Stage from the Stalls" The Sketch (July 15, 1908): 12. The Blue Stockings (1913),Untitled news item, The Observer (November 30, 1913): 11. via Newspapers.com and Lucky Jim (1916)."Lucky Jim" The Observer (October 22, 1916): 7. via Newspapers.com"Esme Beringer" The Era Annual (1897): 29-30."Portraits: Miss Esmé Beringer" Theatre (May 1, 1896): 282-283. She also performed in vaudeville, in The Point of the Sword.
Beringer was an enthusiastic fencer who studied historical swordplay with Alfred Hutton as well as his colleague Egerton Castle and was likely a member of the Bartitsu Club."The Swordswoman: Esme Beringer" The Bartitsu Society (February 28, 2013). She participated in a number of historical fencing lectures and displays during the 1890s and early 1900s and also taught classes for the "Actresses' Foil Club" during World War I.Tony Wolf, Ancient Swordplay: The Revival of Elizabethan Fencing in Victorian London (Freelance Academy Press 2013). After the war, she starred in more Shakespearean roles, including "Constance" in King John (1925) opposite Henry Baynton.Advertisement, The Manchester Guardian (September 23, 1925): 1. via Newspapers.com
Esme Beringer's film appearances included All the World's a Stage (1917), The October Man (1947), Something in the City (1950), and Castle in the Air (1952). She also made some early television appearances, in Craven House (1950), and The Monster of Killoon (1952, by Geoffrey Kerr).
Personal life Esme Beringer died in 1972, aged 96 years.
References
External links
Esme Beringer's filmography at BFI. Three photographs of Esme Beringer are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery (London). A cigarette card featuring Esme Beringer, from the New York Public Library Digital Collections.