Keeley, Mary Anne (c. 1806–1899)

Irish-born English actress. Name variations: Miss Goward. Born Mary Anne Goward in Dublin, Ireland, on November 22, 1806 (some sources cite 1805); died on March 12, 1899; daughter of a brazier and tinman; married Robert Keeley (1793–1869, a comedian), in 1829.

Born in Dublin around 1806, Mary Anne Keeley moved to London in 1825 and became a member of the Covent Garden Company. In June 1829, she married the comedian Robert Keeley with whom she had often appeared. Between 1832 and 1842, the couple acted at Covent Garden, at the Adelphi with John Buckstone, at the Olympic with Charles Mathews, and at Drury Lane with William Macready. In 1836, they toured America.

In 1838, Keeley had her first major success in the role of Nydia, the blind girl, in a dramatization of Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii; she followed this with an equally striking portrayal of Smike in Nicholas Nickleby. The following year, she was triumphant with her charming and lively acting as the hero of a play based on Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard. With its glorification of an escaped convict, the play's popularity was considered so threatening that the Lord Chamberlain ultimately forbade future performances of any plays of a similar nature.

From 1844 to 1847, Keeley and her husband managed the Lyceum, where their production of Cricket on the Hearth ran for over a year. She then returned for five years to the Adelphi; she made her last regular public appearance at the Lyceum in 1859. The final 40 years of her life were spent in retirement, though Keeley occasionally appeared at benefits. On her 90th birthday, a public reception was given for her at the Lyceum. In spite of her age, it was said that she "preserved an altogether exceptional vigor and youthfulness of disposition."

suggested reading:

Goodman, Walter. The Keeleys on the Stage and Off. London, 1895.