St. Clair Bayfield
St. Clair Bayfield (2 August 1875 – 19 May 1967) was an English stage actor,[1] best known as the long-term companion and manager of amateur operatic soprano Florence Foster Jenkins.
St. Clair Bayfield | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | John St. Clair Roberts August 2, 1875 |
| Died | 19 May 1967 (aged 91) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Stage actor |
| Spouse(s) | Kathleen Weatherley
(m. 1945; d. 1967) |
| Partner(s) | Florence Foster Jenkins (1909–1944; her death) |
| Parent(s) | George Bayfield Roberts Ida Roberts |
Life and career
Bayfield was born John St. Clair Roberts in Cheltenham, England, the son of George Bayfield Roberts, an Oxford-educated country parson, and his wife Ida, the eldest of three illegitimate daughters of Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough, a prominent politician and Governor-General of India in the years preceding the Indian Mutiny. St. Clair's maternal great-grandfather was Lord Chief Justice of England.[2] Little is known of Bayfield's early life in England, but as a young man he sailed to New Zealand, where he served as a sailor and soldier: at his 90th birthday party, he sang some of the sea shanties from that period of his life. While there, he tried farming.
With a fine voice and physical presence, he became involved in amateur theatricals, leading eventually to his joining a professional company touring to Australia. His diary of time spent in Melbourne is included in the "Bayfield Archive" preserved at Lincoln Center, New York. He next acted with a company headed by the impresario William Ben Greet, who abandoned his cast to penury in a remote corner of the United States. That led to the establishment of Actor's Equity, of which Bayfield was a founding member.[3] His subsequent stage career involved regular appearances on Broadway for several decades, usually in works by British playwrights. In 1909 he began a vague "common law" relationship with amateur operatic soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, seven years his senior, that lasted the remainder of her life. The couple lived for many years in an apartment on 37th Street in Manhattan, New York.[4] Bayfield joined the Ben Greet Players in a revival of Twelfth Night that took the troupe to 56 Pennsylvania towns in 65 days during the summer of 1914. Also in the group was Sydney Greenstreet.[5]
Bayfield lived with Jenkins and managed her career for 36 years.[4][6] After Jenkins' death in 1944, he married a piano teacher, Kathleen Weatherley, in 1945. They lived in Larchmont, New York, where he died in 1967. He did not have children.
Achievements
The Actors' Equity Association bestows the annual St. Clair Bayfield Award to an actor or actress in a non-featured role in a Shakespearean production.[7]
Theatre credits
Bayfield's credits in Broadway theatre include:[8]
| Production | Role | Dates of Production |
|---|---|---|
| For Heaven's Sake, Mother! (Original, Play, Comedy) | Henry Wheeler | 16–20 November 1948 |
| Hand in Glove (Original, Play, Thriller) | Mr Forsythe | 4 December 1944 – 6 January 1945 |
| The Night Before Christmas (Original, Play) | Endicott | 10–27 April 1941 |
| The Old Foolishness (Original, Play) | The Canon | 20–21 December 1940 |
| Day in the Sun (Original, Play, Comedy) | Judge Livingstone | 16 May - May 1939 |
| Jeremiah (Original, Play) | Nahum | 3 February – March 1939 |
| Glorious Morning (Original, Play, Drama) | Rutzstein | 26 November – December 1938 |
| Father Malachy's Miracle (Original, Play, Comedy) | Robert Gillespie, Bishop of Milothian | 17 November 1937 – March 1938 |
| Field of Ermine (Original, Play) | The Duke of Santa Olalla | 8 February – February 1935 |
| Judgment Day (Original, Play, Drama) | Count Leonid Slatarski | 12 September – December 1934 |
| They Shall Not Die (Original, Play, Drama) | Att'y General Cheney | 21 February – April 1934 |
| Criminal at Large (Original, Play, Mystery) | Rawbane | 10 October 1932 – February 1933 |
| Wild Waves (Original, Play, Comedy) | Whelpley | 19 February – March 1932 |
| The Lady with a Lamp (Original, Play, Drama) | Dr Sutherland | 19 November – November 1931 |
| Old Man Murphy (Revival, Play, Comedy) | Hopkins | 14 September - October 1931 |
| London Calling (Original, Play, Comedy) | Staight | 18 October - October 1930 |
| Lady Dedlock (Original, Play, Romance, Melodrama) | Sir Leicester Dedlock | 31 December 1928 – February 1929 |
| Escape (Original, Play) | The Captain; The Laborer | 26 October 1927 – March 1928 |
| The Beaten Track (Original, Play) | Dafydd Evans Y Beddau | 8 February - February 1926 |
| A Bit of Love (Original, Play, Drama) | Trustaford | 12 May - May 1925 |
| Two By Two (Original, Play, Comedy) | E. Lorrilard Price | 23 February – March 1925 |
| Lass O'Laughter (Original, Play, Comedy) | Davie Nicholson | 8 January - February 1925 |
| We Moderns (Original, Play, Comedy) | Sir William Wimple | 11 March - March 1924 |
| The Lady Cristilinda (Original, Play, Comedy) | Father Reaney | 25 December 1922 – January 1923 |
| Bulldog Drummond (Original, Play, Melodrama) | Jas. Handley | 26 December 1921 – May 1922 |
| Deburau (Original, Play, Comedy, Tragedy) | A Journalist | 23 December 1920 – June 1921 |
| By Pigeon Post (Original, Play) | Blondel | 25 November - December 1918 |
| The Wild Duck (Original, Play, Drama) | 11 March - April 1918 | |
| As You Like It (Revival, Play, Comedy) | 8-9 February 1918 | |
| The Merchant of Venice (Revival, Play, Comedy) | 25-26 January 1918 | |
| Colonel Newcome (Original, Play) | 10 April - May 1917 | |
| Hamlet (Revival, Play, Tragedy) | Polonius | 23 April 1912 |
| Hans, the Flute Player (Original, Musical, Opera) | 20 September – 26 November 1910 | |
| The King of Cadonia (Original, Musical, Comedy) | Laborde | 10–22 January 1910 |
| The Debtors (Original, Play) | 12 October – October 1909 | |
| The Prima Donna (Original, Musical, Comedy, Opera) | Colonel Dutois | 30 November 1908 – 30 January 1909 |
| The Merchant of Venice (Revival, Play, Comedy) | 4 March 1907 – (unknown) | |
| The Two Mr Wetherbys (Original, Play, Comedy) | 23 August - September 1906 | |
| Twelfth Night (Revival, Play, Comedy) | 22 February – March 1904 | |
| Everyman (Original, Play) | 12 October 1902 – May 1903 |
In the media
Bayfield’s relationship with Jenkins was the basis for the biographical drama Florence Foster Jenkins, with Hugh Grant portraying Bayfield and Meryl Streep portraying Jenkins. The film, directed by Stephen Frears, premiered in London on 12 April 2016.
References
- St. Clair Bayfield papers accessed 5/28/2015
- Florence Foster Jenkins, Nicholas Martin & Jasper Rees, Pan, 2016, p. 73
- "Caroline McWilliams wins Bayfield Award". Equity News. February 1977. p. 84.
...St. Clair Bayfield, who died in 1967 at nearly 92 years of age, was a charter member of Equity, having joined in 1913.
- Peters, Brooks, "Florence, The Nightingale?", 15 June 2006 (also appeared, but in slightly different format, in Opera News magazine)
- Sperdakos, Paula, "Dora Mavor Moore: Before the New Play Society," Theatre Research in Canada, Vol 10, No 1, Spring 1989
- Coronet, Dec. 1957
- award information accessed 5/28/2015
- IBDB
External links
- St. Clair Bayfield at the Internet Broadway Database
- St. Clair Bayfield papers, 1898–1986, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- New York Times obituary
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