Lynn Fontanne

@Actresses, Timeline and Childhood ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Lynn Fontanne was an American actress born in Britain who spent most of her acting career in the United States American British Film & Theater Personalities Actresses Theater Personalities Sagittarius Celebrities Lynn Fontanne was an American actress born in Britain who spent most of her acting career in the United States and dazzled the audience with her acting performance. She married Alfred Lunt in 1922 and teamed up with him to act in several stage plays, films and television. Their enduring theatrical love affair and partnership was a very rare thing to see. They remained inseparable for 55 years and acted in sophisticated comedies written by Terence Rattigan, George Bernard Shaw and Noel Coward. Noel Coward wrote his masterpiece ‘Design for Living’ keeping the wife and husband team of Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in mind. They acted together in 27 stage productions during their entire acting career and held audiences spellbound with their acting genius wherever they appeared irrespective of the place. Their efforts turned the fledgling ‘Theater Guild’ into a roaring success and their fluency in acting together bordered on the ecstatic. They could speak through each other’s lines but were heard separately and looked as if they were carrying on a conversation in real life making the audience believe that they were also a part of it. There has never been an acting pair such as Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in the history of theater or movies.

Personal Details

Birthday: December 6, 1887 Died on: July 30, 1983 Nationality: British, American Famous: Film & Theater Personalities, Actresses, Theater Personalities Spouses: Alfred Lunt Known as: Lillie Louise Fontanne Birth Place: Woodford, London, England, UK Information Detail Birthday December 6, 1887 Died on July 30, 1983 Nationality British, American Famous Film & Theater Personalities, Actresses, Theater Personalities Spouses Alfred Lunt Known as Lillie Louise Fontanne Birth Place Woodford, London, England, UK Born Country United Kingdom Gender Female Father Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne Mother Frances Ellen Thornley Sun Sign Sagittarius Born in Woodford, London, England, UK Famous as Actress Died at Age 95

Woodford, London, England, UK

Lynn Fontanne born at Unsplash Birth Place

She married Alfred Lunt on May 26, 1922 but remained childless. Unsplash Personal Life

After Lynn Fontanne and her husband retired from the stage in 1958, the ‘Globe Theater’ was renamed the ‘Lunt-Fontanne Theater’ in their honor. Unsplash Personal Life

Lynn Fontanne died of pneumonia on July 30, 1983 at Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, USA at the age of 95. Unsplash Personal Life

Lynn Fontanne was born Lillie Louise Fontanne in Woodford, Essex, England on December 6, 1887. Her father was a French brass type founder named Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne and her mother was an Irishwoman Frances Ellen Thornley. She had two sisters. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

At the age of 10, she decided to become an actress after watching a country play in Woodford. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1902, at the age of 15, she started taking acting lessons from a great Shakespearean actress named Ellen Terry. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

In 1903 she and Ellen Terry toured the country with the play ‘Alice Sit by the Fire’. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

She debuted as a professional actress in 1909 in the pantomime ‘Cinderella’ staged at the Drury Lane Theater, London. Unsplash Career

In 1910 she made her debut appearance on the New York stage in the play ‘Mr. Preedy and the Countess’ at the ‘39th Street Theater’. Unsplash Career

She acted in the ‘The Harp of Life’ on the New York stage in 1916 and also in ‘Out There’, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and in George S. Kaufman’s ‘Someone in the House’. Unsplash Career

In 1919 after completing a run on Kaufman and Marc Connelly’s ‘Dulcy’, she met Alfred Lunt at the backstage of the ‘New Amsterdam Theater’. They got married three years later and appeared together for the first time in 1923 in the play ‘Sweet Nell of Drury Lane’. Unsplash Career

In 1924 both of them appeared in the play ‘The Guardsman’ which was a huge success and ran on the Broadway for 40 weeks. Unsplash Career

Lynn Fontanne was nominated for the ‘Academy Award for the Best Actress’ in 1931 for ‘The Guardsman’. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

She received the ‘Medal for Diction’ from the ‘American Academy of Arts and Letters’ in November, 1935. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

She was awarded a ‘Doctor of Letters’ degree by the ‘Russell Sage College’ and a ‘Doctor of Humane Letters’ from the universities of New York, Yale and Dartmouth in 1950. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

In 1959 she was nominated for ‘Tony Award’ for ‘Best Actress’ for her role in ‘The Visit’. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

Lynn and Alfred received the ‘United States Freedom Medal’ Prize’ from President Johnson in 1964. Unsplash Awards & Achievements

Information	Detail
Birthday	December 6, 1887
Died on	July 30, 1983
Nationality	British, American
Famous	Film & Theater Personalities, Actresses, Theater Personalities
Spouses	Alfred Lunt
Known as	Lillie Louise Fontanne
Birth Place	Woodford, London, England, UK
Born Country	United Kingdom
Gender	Female
Father	Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne
Mother	Frances Ellen Thornley
Sun Sign	Sagittarius
Born in	Woodford, London, England, UK
Famous as	Actress
Died at Age	95

Lynn Fontanne

British

Dec 6, 1887

Biography

Personal Details

Woodford, London, England, UK