Lillah McCarthy
Lillah, Lady Keeble CBE (born Lila Emma McCarthy; 22 September 1875 – 15 April 1960) was an English actress and theatrical manager. Biography Lila Emma McCarty was born in Cheltenham on 22 September 1875, the seventh of eight children of Jonadab McCarthy and Emma (née Price). Jonadab McCarthy (1841–1913) was a furniture maker and antique dealer, buyer and seller of property, amateur astronomer (FRAS) and lover of poetry. After unhappy episodes at school, Lila was taught at home by her father. Her lifelong love of the theatre was triggered in 1891 by seeing Lillie Langtry play the title role in Tom Taylor's Lady Clancarty at Cheltenham's New Theatre and Opera House (now the Everyman). By 1895, Jonadab had acquired a property in Chepstow Place, Bayswater, enabling Lila to continue her studies in London. She went to Hermann Vezin's School of Acting to learn elocution; in his later years Vezin gave lessons to aspiring actors, including Herbert Beerbohm Tree. McCarthy's first role was as Lady Macbeth in an amateur production in May 1895. She was directed by William Poel, the theatre manager and Elizabethan specialist, at the Shakespeare Reading Society at St. George's Hall, Langham Place. George Bernard Shaw was in