Martha Henry

Martha Kathleen Henry (née Buhs; February 17, 1938October 21, 2021) was an American-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She was noted for her work at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.

Early life and training

Martha Kathleen Buhs was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 17, 1938. Her parents, Kathleen (née Hatch) and Lloyd Howard Buhs, divorced when she was around five years old. She grew up in the northern Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, attended the Kingswood School (today Cranbrook Kingswood School), and graduated from the drama department at Carnegie Institute of Technology before moving to Canada in 1959. She later adopted the stage surname Henry, the legal surname of her first husband Donnelly Rhodes, whom she married in 1962.

Henry performed at Toronto's Crest Theatre upon her arrival in Canada, and was soon after accepted into the first class at the National Theatre School in Montreal. In 1961, the Theatre School took its students to Stratford to perform scene selections for the Festival company. Henry caught the attention of Artistic Director Michael Langham, who offered her a spot in the 1962 company based entirely on her performance that day. Accepting the offer would have required Henry to leave the Theatre School part way through the three-year program, however NTS Director Powys Thomas advised her to take the offer, saying she would learn more with the Stratford company than at the Theatre School. She took the offer and was awarded a diploma ahead of the inaugural class, making her the Theatre School's first graduate.

Leading actress at Stratford

During Henry's first season at the Stratford Festival in 1962, she played Miranda to William Hutt's first Prospero in '' The Tempest'', and Lady Macduff in ''Macbeth''. Between the 1962 and 1980 seasons, she played leading roles in 40 productions, and made her directing debut in 1980. Some of her roles during this time included Cordelia in ''King Lear'' (1964), Viola in ''Twelfth Night'' (1966), Titania in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1968), Desdemona in ''Othello'' (1973), Isabella in ''Measure for Measure'' (1975-1976), Olga in '' Three Sisters'' (1976), Lady Anne in ''Richard III'' (1977), and Paulina in ''The Winter's Tale'' (1978). During brief periods away from Stratford, Henry performed elsewhere in Canada and abroad, including Manitoba Theatre Centre, Shaw Festival, Broadway, New York's Lincoln Centre, and London's West End.

Henry and three other directors (Urjo Kareda, Peter Moss and Pam Brighton) were appointed to lead Stratford's 1981 season after the resignation of Artistic Director Robin Phillips, but the group was dismissed a few months later when the Board of Directors had lined up English stage director John Dexter to replace them. A major uproar ensued across the Canadian arts community, and Immigration Minister Lloyd Axworthy denied Dexter a work permit. A month later, Canadian director John Hirsch was appointed artistic director for the 1981 season. The "Gang of Four" fallout caused Henry and other Stratford veterans to work away from the Festival for many years, but the enduring result was noted by actor R.H. Thomson as "Stratford turning (a corner) and becoming a deeply Canadian enterprise".

Directing and later stage career

After 1980, Henry performed and directed at major arts venues across North America, including Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, Globe Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Roy Thompson Hall, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Shaw Festival, Neptune Theatre, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Henry was artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, from 1988 to 1995, during which time she programmed a wide variety of contemporary works, including newer plays such as '' Oleanna'' by David Mamet, ''The Rez Sisters'' by Tomson Highway, and ''The Stillborn Lover'' by Timothy Findley