Robert Michaelis

Robert Armand René Michaelis (22 December 1878 – 29 August 1965) was a French-born actor and singer who worked in musical theatre, mainly in England, but he also made appearances on Broadway.

Robert Michaelis in The Merry Widow, 1908

By 1901, Michaelis and his parents had settled in Hampstead, and he was married there in 1913. He was naturalized as a British subject in 1914.

After retiring from the stage, he became a manager, and during the Second World War was an air raid warden, by then having made his home in the west of England.

Career

Born in 1878, according to different sources in Saint Petersburg[1] or Paris, Michaelis was the son of Guilllaume Paul Hermann Michaelis and Marie Leonie Heloise Michaelis. His mother was French, and his father was born a German but naturalized as French.[2] He was educated in London and Paris and trained as a singer in Vienna with Felice Bottelli.[3]

At the time of the 1901 census, Michaelis was living in Latchmere, Battersea, with his parents, Herman Michaelis, a schoolmaster, aged fifty, and Marie, aged 45, and his occupation was stated as actor.[4]

An early appearance in musical theatre came in 1907, when Michaelis sang in Gustave Kerker's The White Hen at the Casino Theatre, New York, in a run lasting three months.[5] In 1908, he took over the part of Prince Danilo in The Merry Widow for the last four months of its run at Daly's Theatre,[6] then was cast as Freddy Fairfax in The Dollar Princess (1909), becoming a favourite at Daly's,[3] and playing a leading role in The Marriage Market (1911). In 1912, he sang the title role in an English production of Franz Lehár's operetta The Count of Luxembourg,[7] as one of the five principals, together with Phyllis le Grand, Eric Thorne, Lauri de Frece, and Daisy Burrell, who were collectively described by the Musical News as "all consummate artists in their own style".[8]

Soon after the beginning of the First World War, Michaelis, then living at 8 Eton Villas, South Hampstead, was naturalized as a British subject, declaring the names of his parents and his place of birth as Paris.[2]

In 1920, Michaelis appeared in the silent film The Little Welsh Girl,[9] then for more than a year, from 1920 to 1921, he sang the part of Beaudon in a London production of Irene at the Empire Theatre which had a run of 399 performances.[1]

When he was granted probate on his mother's estate in 1933, Michaelis was described as a "manager".[10]

In October 1939, Michaelis was living at Wychwood, Tickenham, Somerset, and soon after the outbreak of the Second World War was registered as an air raid warden and retired actor.[11]

In his Nights of Gladness (1956), English theatre historian Walter MacQueen-Pope, known as "Popie", called Michaelis "one of the very best performers Daly's ever had".[12]

Personal life

Michaelis's father, Herman Michaelis, died at St Pancras in 1912.[13] In 1913, at Hampstead, Michaelis married Phyllis le Grand,[14] an actress,[11] with whom he had starred in The Count of Luxembourg the year before,[8] and their daughter Rosemary Evelyn Helene was born in March 1914.[15] She later became a nurse and radiographer.[11] Michaelis's mother, Marie, died in 1933, aged 78. Her address was 8, Eton Villas, South Hampstead, and she left an estate valued at £2,293.[10][16] In 1940, Rosemary Michaelis married John A. Parsons in Somerset.[17] Three grandchildren were born between 1943 and 1949.[18] Michaelis died on 29 August 1965 at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, when his address was given as "Summerlands Nailsea", and he left an estate valued for probate at £7,051.[1][19][20] His widow, Phyllis, survived him until 15 May 1981.[21]

Film roles

Musicals
Daly's Theatre, Leicester Square

Notes
  1. Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (Schirmer, 2001), p. 994: "MICHAELIS, Robert [Armand Rene] (b ?St Petersburg, 22 December 1878; d Bristol, 29 August 1965)...."
  2. Reginald McKenna, Secretary of State, Certificate no. 25480 "Robert Michaelis" dated 7 September 1914 in U.K. Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations 1870–1916 (National Archives)
  3. Derek B. Scott, German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940 (2019), p. 144
  4. UK census 1901, Latchmere Ward of Battersea, p. 12
  5. The Best Plays of 1899–1909 (Dodd, Mead, 1944), p. 534
  6. Walter MacQueen-Pope, David Leslie Murray, Fortune's favourite: the life and times of Franz Lehár (Hutchinson, 1953), p. 137
  7. W. J. MacQueen-Pope, Shirtfronts and sables: a story of the days when money could be spent (Hale, 1953), p. 59
  8. Musical News and Herald, vol. 42 (1912), p. 194
  9. Denis Gifford, British Film Catalogue, Volume 1 (2016), p. 256
  10. "Michaelis Marie" in Probate Calendar for 1933 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk
  11. National Registration Transcript Book, Long Ashton Rural dated 4 October 1939 (National Archives, ref. 314/5 WPRF), p. 14: "Michaelis Robert / M / 22 Dec 78 / M / Actor retired / Air Raid Warden ; Michaelis Phyllis / F / 25 Nov 87 / M / Actress retired / First Aid St John Ambulance; PARSONS Rosemary / F / 26 Mar 14 / S / Radiographer S. R. N."
  12. Walter MacQueen-Pope, Nights of Gladness (1956), p. 192
  13. "Michaelis Herman 61" in Register of Deaths for Pancras Registration District, vol. 1b (1912), p. 24
  14. "Michaelis Robert A R and Le Grand Phyllys M" in Register of Marriages for Hampstead Registration District, vol. 1a (1913), p. 1298
  15. "Michaelis Rosemary E H / Le Grand" in Register of Births for Hampstead Registration District, vol. 1a (1914), p. 1074
  16. England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007: "Marie Michaelis, 78" Registration district: Hampstead, Volume: 1a (1933), p. 531
  17. "Michaelis Rosemary E H & Parsons John A" in Register of Marriages for Weston Registration District vol. 5c (1940), p. 1609
  18. "Parsons Prunella R / Michaelis" in Register of Births for Bristol Registration District, vol. 6a (1943), p. 68; "Parsons William M / Michaelis" in Register of Births for Bristol Registration District, vol. 7b (1946), p. 8; "Parsons Stephen J / Michaelis" in Register of Births for Weston Registration District, vol. 7c (1949), p. 411
  19. MICHAELIS Robert Armand Renee at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 20 July 2019
  20. "MICHAELIS ROBERT A R (86)" in Register of Deaths for Bristol Registration District, vol. 7B (1965), p. 42
  21. "MICHAELIS PHYLLIS MILDRED /ABOUT1888" in Register of Deaths for Weston Registration District, vol. 22 (1981), p. 1,174; "MICHAELIS, Phyllis Mildred... died 15 May 1981" in Probate Calendar for 1981 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 29 July 2019
  22. Lionel Carson, ed., The Stage Year Book (1912), p. 185
  23. Scott (2019), p. 304
  24. Irene at guidetomusicaltheatre.com, accessed 19 June 2019
  25. Dan Dietz, The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals (2019), p. 122
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