Phyllis Bedells

Ethel Phyllis Bedells was born in Knowle, Bristol. Her father was a clerk for the Bristol Gas Company; both parents were musical. Her father founded the Bristol Amateur Operatic Society, and both Phyllis and her mother appeared in the society's productions. She attended a theatrical school in Nottingham. She studied ballet with Malvina Cavallazzi, Alexander Genée, Adolph Bolm, Enrico Cecchetti, and Anna Pavlova.[1]

From 1907 Bedells was a dancer at the London Empire Theatre[2] and became the first British prima ballerina there in 1914.[3] She left in 1916 to dance in West End musical revues and in opera ballets at Covent Garden. She appeared in two silent films, Fairyland (1916) and The Land of Mystery (1920). She was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Dance in 1920 and helped to draw up its first syllabus. She was also a member of the Camargo Society. In 1931, she appeared as a guest artist with the Vic-Wells Ballet.[1]

Bedells retired from performing in 1935, giving a farewell performance at the London Hippodrome.[3] She became a ballet teacher and an examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance. She published her autobiography, My Dancing Days, in 1954.[4] In 1976, she recorded an nterview for the Dance Oral History Project at the New York Public Library.[5] In 1979, the annual Phyllis Bedells Bursary was established in her honour.[6]

Bedells married Major Ian Gordon McBean in 1918. They had a son and a daughter.[1] Their daughter, Jean Bedells (1924-2014), was also a dancer, as was Jean's daughter, Anne Bedells.[7] She died in 1985, in Henley on Thames, aged 91 years. There is a collection of her papers in the Royal Academy of Dance Archives.[8] A ballet costume worn by Bedells in 1933 is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[9]

• Dictionary of Dance: Phyllis Bedells
• Portraits of Phyllis Bedells, from 1916 to 1919, in the National Portrait Gallery.
• Phyllis Bedells at IMDb