Henry's return to the Stratford stage in 1994 as Mary Tyrone in ''
Long Day's Journey Into Night'' was widely acclaimed, and the production was remounted for the 1995 season.
A filmed version of the production earned her a 1996
Genie Award
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
. The return also marked the start of a second lengthy run for Henry at Stratford, with her performing in leading and supporting roles, directing, and instructing. In 2007, she was appointed director of Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, a program that has trained many promising new Canadian actors.
Her production of ''
All My Sons'' by
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...
was included in multiple theatre reviewers' lists of top theatre productions in 2016.
In 2017, she took over leadership of Stratford's
Michael Langham
Michael Seymour Langham (22 August 1919 – 15 January 2011) was an English director and actor, who spent much of his career living and working in Canada and the United States.
He was educated at Radley College and studied law at the Universi ...
Workshop for Classical Direction.
In 2018, in her 44th season of performing, at age 80, Henry played
Prospero
Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's play '' The Tempest''.
Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, whose usurping brother, Antonio, had put him (with his three-year-old daughter, Miranda) to sea ...
in ''
The Tempest'', directed by
Antoni Cimolino.
Chris Jones, theater critic for the ''Chicago Tribune'', wrote "in all my years watching shows at this theater, a miragelike fountain of excellence ... I have never seen anything quite like the experience of watching Henry".
During the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic in 2021, Henry played the role of "A" in ''
Three Tall Women
''Three Tall Women'' is a two-act play by Edward Albee, written in 1990, which won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Albee's third Pulitzer.
Characters
* A: A is a 92-year-old woman. She is thin, autocratic, proud, and wealthy, with "encroachi ...
'' by
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
at Stratford's Studio Theatre. In his review of the production,
J. Kelly Nestruck
James Kelleher Nestruck ( ; styled as J. Kelly Nestruck) is a Canadian journalist and theatre critic. He is currently the chief theatre critic for ''The Globe and Mail''.
Life and career
Nestruck was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was raised in Mo ...
of the ''
Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' said "Henry’s performance is a reminder of how much more daringly theatrical her generation of stage actors – she’s now in her 80s – can be".
. A stage to screen adaptation of Henry's final performance in Three Tall Women was captured by director Barry Avrich months before Henry passed away. The film will be available for streaming on a limited basis beginning October 16th, 2022.
Personal life
Henry's marriages to Rhodes,
Douglas Rain
Douglas James Rain (March 13, 1928 – November 11, 2018) was a Canadian actor and narrator. Although primarily a stage actor, he is perhaps best known for his voicing of the HAL 9000 computer in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) and i ...
, and
Rod Beattie
Rod Beattie (born 1948) is a Canadian actor who has been active in Canadian theatre for over 50 years. He is best known for performing the Wingfield Series of plays by Dan Needles. In these plays Beattie plays all the characters, employing cha ...
all ended in divorce.
She had one child (Emma) with Rain.
Henry died of cancer shortly after midnight on October 21, 2021, at her home in
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...
, twelve days after her final stage appearance in ''Three Tall Women''.
Honours
Henry was made an officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in 1981, and promoted to companion in 1990. She was made a member of the
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is adm ...
in 1994. Henry received a
Governor General's Performing Arts Award
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
for her lifetime contribution to Canadian theatre in 1996.
Television roles
Notable television roles include Catherine in ''
Empire, Inc.'',
the prime minister's mother in ''
H2O'',
and the owner of the Chateau Rousseau in Ken Finkleman
Ken Finkleman (born 1946) is a Canadian television and film writer and producer, actor, and novelist.
Biography
Finkleman was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In Canada, Finkleman is best known as the writer, creator and producer of the CBC Televisi ...
's '' At the Hotel''.[ In 1994, she starred in the TV film '' And Then There Was One''.]
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
*
An Interview with Martha Henry by TheatreMuseumCanada
Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Martha
1938 births
2021 deaths
Canadian stage actresses
Canadian film actresses
Canadian television actresses
Companions of the Order of Canada
Best Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Best Supporting Actress Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
Members of the Order of Ontario
National Theatre School of Canada alumni
American emigrants to Canada
Actresses from Detroit
Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners
Canadian Shakespearean actresses
Deaths from cancer in Ontario