Lottie Lyell (born Charlotte Edith Cox, 23 February 1890 – 21 December 1925) was an Australian actress, screenwriter, editor and filmmaker. She is regarded as Australia's first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the silent era through her collaborations with director and writer

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

. She was born in Balmain, a suburb in Sydney,

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in 1890.National Film & Sound Archive, Photo Play Artiste of Lottie Lyell by Marilyn Dooley
By 1912, Lyell had become romantically involved with Longford. The couple lived together in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and formed one of the most productive and influential partnerships in the history of

Australian cinema The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received internati ...

. Although Longford was separated, his

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

wife would not divorce him and he was never able to marry Lyell. Lyell fell ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

and died at her home in Roseville, North Sydney on 21 December 1925. Longford died in 1959, and is buried alongside Lyell at

Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium formerly Northern Suburbs General Cemetery is a cemetery and crematorium in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. The park caters for all religious, ethnic and cultural requirements. History Macq ...

Career

Charlotte Cox started her acting career at the age of 17. She took the stage name of Lottie Lyell, and in 1910 at age 20 had her theatre breakthrough, when she performed as Maggie Brown in ''An Englishman's Home''. The travelling theatre company took Lyell on tour for the show and she performed across Australia, including

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, and New Zealand. After visiting 85 towns, the tour ended when a flood held up the production in

Murtoa Murtoa is a wheat district town in Victoria, Australia, situated around Lake Marma on the Wimmera Highway, north-west of the state capital, Melbourne. The town is in the Shire of Yarriambiack local government area. At the , Murtoa had a popul ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Lyell's later theatre successes continued when she joined the Clark and Meynell Company.

Raymond Longford

The following year, Lyell exchanged live theatre for a new, modern medium – film. She debuted in Alfred Rolfe's ''Captain Midnight, The Bush King'' and by late 1911 her lead role in Raymond Longford's ''

The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole ''The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole'', generally referred to as ''Margaret Catchpole'', is a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford and starring Lottie Lyell. It is based on the true story of Margaret Catchpole, an advent ...

'' (1911) transformed her into Australia's first international film star. The British magazine ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' wrote of the film, "This big film is the best that has been made in Australia". Lyell and Longford formed one of the most influential and pioneering partnerships in Australian film history. In 1913 Lyell starred in Neath Austral Skies'' as Eileen Delmont. Notably in this role she performed her own stunts, which included riding a horse with a knife between her teeth and diving into the sea. Another Longford/Lyell film made in 1913, ''Australia Calls'', contained some 'special effects' such as cardboard planes flying down wires, annihilating some Sydney landmarks. Although Longford offered to film battlefronts during the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from 1914 until 1918, the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

declined his offer. Longford and Lyell would never make a war related feature during the First World War. The Sentimental Bloke 1918

In 1919, Lyell portrayed Doreen in ''

The Sentimental Bloke ''The Sentimental Bloke'' is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Ly ...

'', which is now regarded as the landmark piece of the Longford/Lyell collaborations. Lyell is believed to have also contributed to the screenplay, art direction, editing and production. In 1921, Lyell wrote, edited and co-directed '' The Blue Mountains Mystery'' to much critical acclaim. Longford and Lyell formed Longford-Lyell Australian Motion Picture Productions in 1922. Lyell also returned to acting in 1922 with ''Rudd's New Selection''. She was active until her death in 1925, and two of her screenplays, ''Peter Vernon's Silence'' and ''The Pioneers'', were made into films the following year.

Final years

In the early 1920s, Lyell's health declined. Lyell's sister, Lynda Cox, died in September 1925. Lottie Lyell died from

on 21 December the same year and was buried at

. Raymond Longford died on 2 April 1959 and was buried beside her.

Filmography

Actress

* ''

Captain Midnight, the Bush King ''Captain Midnight, the Bush King'' (US: ''The Bushranger's Bride'') is a 1911 Australian silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film about the fictitious bushranger Captain Midnight. It was the directorial debut of actor Alfred Rolfe (dir ...

'' (1911) * ''

Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road ''Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road'' is a 1911 Australian silent film about the bushranger Captain Starlight. It was based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1888 novel ''Robbery Under Arms''. It is considered a lost film. ...

'' (1911) * ''

The Fatal Wedding ''The Fatal Wedding'' is a play by Theodore Kremer and a 1911 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the melodrama, which he and Lottie Lyell had toured around Australia.

'' as Mabel Wilson (1911) * ''

The Life of Rufus Dawes ''The Life of Rufus Dawes'' is a 1911 Australian silent film based on Alfred Dampier's stage adaptation of the 1874 novel ''For the Term of His Natural Life'' produced by Charles Cozens Spencer. It was also known as ''The Story of Rufus Dawes, ...

'' (1911) * ''

'' as Margaret Catchpole (1911) * '' The Tide of Death'' as Sylvia Grey (1912) * ''

The Midnight Wedding ''The Midnight Wedding'' is a 1912 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on a popular Ruritanian stage play in which Longford had appeared. It is considered a lost film. It should not be confused with a 1912 film from the Ga ...

'' as Princess Astrea (1912) * '' Australia Calls'' as Beatrice Evans (1913) * '' Pommy Arrives in Australia'' or ''Pommy, the Funny Little New Chum'' (Australia) (1913) * ''

'Neath Austral Skies ''Neath Austral Skies'' is a 1913 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford. It is considered a lost film. It is referred to as Neath Australian Skies'' in newspapers of the day. Plot Captain Frank Hollis ( Martyn Keith) is enga ...

'' as Eileen Delmont (1913) * '' Trooper Campbell'' (1914) – short * '' The Swagman's Story'' (1914) – short * '' Taking his Chance'' (1914) – short * ''

The Silence of Dean Maitland ''The Silence of Dean Maitland'' is an 1886 novel by Maxwell Gray (the pen name of Mary Gleed Tuttiett). Set in a fictionalized Isle of Wight, particularly around Calbourne, it concerns an ambitious clergyman who accidentally kills the father ...

'' as Marion, Henry's sister (1914) * '' We'll Take her Children in amongst our own'' (1915) * '' A Maori Maid's Love'' (1916) * ''

The Mutiny of the Bounty ''The Mutiny of the Bounty'' is a 1916 Australian-New Zealand silent film directed by Raymond Longford about the mutiny aboard . It is the first known cinematic dramatisation of this story and is considered a lost film. Longford claimed it was ...

'' as Nessy Heywood (1916) * '' The Church and the Woman'' as Eileen Shannon (1917) * '' The Woman Suffers'' as Marjory Manton (1918) * ''

'' as Doreen (1919) * ''

Ginger Mick ''Ginger Mick'' is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on ''The Moods of Ginger Mick'' by C. J. Dennis, which had sold over 70,000 copies. It is a sequel to ''The Sentimental Bloke'' (1919) and is considered a los ...

'' reprising her role as Doreen (1920) * ''

Rudd's New Selection ''Rudd's New Selection'' is a 1921 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. It is a sequel to '' On Our Selection'' (1920). The plot concerns the marriage of Dave Rudd (Tal Ordell) a ...

'' as Nell Garvin (1921) * '' The Dinkum Bloke'' reprising her role as Nell Garvin (1923) * '' An Australian by Marriage'' (1923)

Writer

* '' Australia Calls'' (1913) * ''

'' (1916) * ''

'' (1919) * ''

On Our Selection ''On Our Selection'' (1899) is a series of stories written by Australian author Steele Rudd, the pen name of Arthur Hoey Davis, in the late 1890s, featuring the characters Dad and Dave Rudd. The original edition of the book was illustrated by ...

'' (1920) * ''

'' (1921) * '' The Blue Mountains Mystery'' (1921) * '' The Dinkum Bloke'' (1923) * '' Australia Calls'' (1923) * ''

The Bushwhackers The Bushwhackers are a professional wrestling tag team who competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, ...

'' (1925) * '' The Pioneers'' (1926) * ''Sons of Australia'', screened as '' Peter Vernon's Silence'' (1926)

Editor

* ''

'' (1916) * ''

'' (1919)

Producer

* '' The Dinkum Bloke'' (1923)

Assistant director

* '' The Dinkum Bloke'' (1923)

Director

* '' The Blue Mountains Mystery'' (1921)

Theatre credits

*''The Land of Gold'' by George Darrell (1907) *vaudeville (1908) *Geach touring company (1909) *''An Englishman's Home'' (1909) *''The Midnight Wedding'' (1910) – tour *''Why Men Love Women'' by Walter Howard (1910) *''The Fatal Wedding'' (1910) – tour with Raymond Longford and Gilbert Emery *''Her love against the world''

References

Resources

External links

Lottie Lyell
at

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

Lottie Lyell
at Australian Dictionary of Biography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyell, Lottie 1890 births 1925 deaths Australian film actresses Australian film directors Australian screenwriters Australian silent film actresses 20th-century Australian actresses Australian women film directors Actresses from Sydney Australian women screenwriters 19th-century Australian women 20th-century Australian screenwriters 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Australia Infectious disease deaths in New South Wales Women film pioneers