Madge Elliott
{{Short description|Australian dancer and actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Madge Elliott
| image = (Madge Elliott having a drink in a garden) (cropped).jpg
| caption =
| birth_name = Leah Madeleine Elliott
| birth_date = 12 May 1896
| birth_place = Fulham, London, England
| death_date = {{death-date and age|8 August 1955|12 May 1896}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| known_for = Dancing in the UK and Australia
| occupation = Actress, dancer
| spouse = Cyril Ritchard (m. 1935)
| children = one son (died as an infant)
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Leah Madeleine "Madge" Elliott (12 May 1896 – 8 August 1955) was a UK-born Australian dancer and actor who was the wife and stage partner of Cyril Ritchard.
Life
Elliott was born in Fulham, London, in 1896. Her family emigrated to Australia while she was a young child. Her mother, Frances Selina Curtis ({{nee}} Heighton), and her father, Nicholas Phillipps Elliott, lived in Toowoomba, Queensland, where her father was a surgeon. She was educated at a local grammar school.{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-73290|title=Ritchard, Cyril Joseph (1897–1977), dancer, actor, and theatre director|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/73290|access-date=2020-04-12}}
After Elliott's family had moved to Sydney, she was trained as a dancer by Minnie Hooper. She was a member of the children's ballet at the Melba-Williamson Opera Company by 1911.{{Citation|last=Rickard|first=John|title=Elliott, Leah Madeleine (Madge) (1896–1955)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/elliott-leah-madeleine-madge-10112|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=12 April 2020}} Hooper tried to partner Elliott with Cyril Ritchard, a handsome actor, but Elliott thought Ritchard's dancing too poor for him to be an appropriate colleague. Nevertheless, they did subsequently form a duo, "Madge and Cyril", and went on a tour of New Zealand.
File:(Wind buffets the bride's veil and train at the wedding of Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott, St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, September 16, 1935) (8446005685).jpg and Madge's wedding, 16 September 1935]]
File:Madge Elliott in her Peter Russell gown "the finest ever worn in Australia".jpg
In 1918, they appeared together in Yes, Uncle! and Going Up, but then briefly pursued their careers independently. Ritchard worked in New York, where he shared an apartment with Walter Pidgeon, while Elliott relocated to London, making her West End debut in 1925. When they resumed their partnership, it was in London where they reunited: in 1927, Laddie Cliff booked them to star in Lady Luck at the Carlton Theatre.
Elliott and Ritchard returned to Australia in 1932. They appeared together in several successful musical productions, notably Blue Roses.
Elliott and Ritchard married at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, on 16 September 1935.{{cite web|url=http://www.hat-archive.com/mandc.htm|title=Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard}} There were said to be five thousand onlookers at the wedding, with Elliott's four-yard veil attracting especial attention.
Elliott died of bone cancer in Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, in 1955.
References
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Category:British emigrants to Australia
Category:Actresses from Sydney