Elizabeth Sharland
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Sharland, L.G.S.M., A.Mus. A., is an actress, author and producer. Her first book, From Shakespeare to Coward, was published in 1997 and she has since written six more books on the theatre, including The British on Broadway, A Theatrical Feast of London, and A Theatrical Feast of New York, as well as penning a novel, The Best Actress, promoted by the noted British public relations consultant Richard Fitzwilliams
. She speaks regularly at book signings at venues such as the Players Club and National Arts Club
in New York. Her most recent book is Passionate Pilgrimages from Chopin to Coward.
and studied at St Michael's Collegiate School
, also taking private lessons in speech, drama and music. She won a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School in London, and left to take up studies there for two years, gaining a diploma in piano as well as in drama.
Her acting career began in the mid 1950s, with her first professional job at the Felixstowe Repertory Company, after which she toured Australia for six months with London’s Old Vic Company, alongside Katharine Hepburn
and Robert Helpmann
. She later lived in Tangier
, where she taught music at the American School and performed as house pianist at the Velasquez Hotel.
After her marriage in 1957, she moved to Toronto, Canada
with her doctor husband who had accepted a position there. She joined the summer stock company
The Straw Hat Players to tour Ontario
.
She performed many roles for CBC Radio
and CBC-TV dramas, including the General Motors Hour
, with actors Gordon Pinsent
, Barry Morse
, Robert Goulet
and Douglas Campbell
.
, where she opened her own English-speaking
cafe-theatre, featuring new plays, and she details the experience in her 2008 book A Theatrical Feast in Paris which profiles many of the city's famous theatres and restaurants, including Le Grand Véfour
.
In 1983, she re-located to New York City, and served as personal assistant
to actor Yul Brynner
on his final tour of the USA in The King and I
. She started writing plays, three of which were produced at American Theatre of Actors in New York. After Brynner's death, Sharland moved back to London, producing an anthology entitled Love From Shakespeare to Coward at the Theatre Museum
, and she cast over 200 actors to work in it over 6 years.
, and also offers memories of her family in Tasmania as well as the composers, writers and musicians she went to visit during her career. The book was launched at Hatchard's in London in May 2009, and also on board the RMS Queen Mary 2 in July 2009. Her latest book, Behind the Doors of Notorious Covent Garden is featured as part of New York Lincoln Center
's New Books in the Performing Arts series, where Sharland is joined by actress Tammy Grimes and cabaret artist Steve Ross at a March 10, 2011 event at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center.
She lectures regularly on board the Cunard
line of cruise ship
s, as well as for the American Australian Association, the Society for the Four Arts, the English Speaking Union in Palm Beach
and New York, The University Club, the Harvard Club
, the National Arts Club
and the National Portrait Gallery in London. She also serves as food editor for the Palm Beach Society Magazine.
She is married to a Dublin born psychiatrist and has one son.
"On Books: Take well-guided tour where creativity dwells", Palm Beach Post
, Sunday, 23 November 2008: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/accent/epaper/2008/11/23/books_column_1123.html
"People by Andrew Pierce", The Times
, 4 January 2005: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article408149.ece
Portrait listing at National Library of Australia: http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1145542
Behind the Doors of Covent Garden
by Elizabeth Sharland http://www.fourarts.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.one&content_id=558&x=3443831
"Elizabeth Sharland to talk about famous people's homes at Palm Beach Book Store", Palm Beach Daily News, 9 December 2008 http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/arts/content/arts/2008/12/09/BriefBook1210.html
Elizabeth Sharland reads at Barnes & Noble
, New York City http://geo.international.gc.ca/world/site/includes/print.asp?lang=en&print=1&url=%2Fcan-am%2Fnew_york%2Fright_nav%2Funsseptember2008-en.asp#Readings
Author listing at Goodreads.com http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/297708.Elizabeth_Sharland
Video excerpt of Elizabeth Sharland's presentation at Barnes and Noble in New York City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMpGksDzAO0
Richard Fitzwilliams
Richard Fitzwilliams is a British public relations consultant and commentator. He specialises in promoting exhibitions of figurative art such as those of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters and The Threadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries. He is also a royal commentator and film critic, and has...
. She speaks regularly at book signings at venues such as the Players Club and National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
in New York. Her most recent book is Passionate Pilgrimages from Chopin to Coward.
Early life
Sharland was born in TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
and studied at St Michael's Collegiate School
St Michael's Collegiate School
St Michael's Collegiate School, colloquially known as "Collegiate", is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for girls, located in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia....
, also taking private lessons in speech, drama and music. She won a scholarship to study at the Guildhall School in London, and left to take up studies there for two years, gaining a diploma in piano as well as in drama.
Her acting career began in the mid 1950s, with her first professional job at the Felixstowe Repertory Company, after which she toured Australia for six months with London’s Old Vic Company, alongside Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
and Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
. She later lived in Tangier
Tangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, where she taught music at the American School and performed as house pianist at the Velasquez Hotel.
After her marriage in 1957, she moved to Toronto, Canada
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
with her doctor husband who had accepted a position there. She joined the summer stock company
Stock company
Stock company can refer to:*Joint stock company *Stock company - referring to a group of actors...
The Straw Hat Players to tour Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
She performed many roles for CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
and CBC-TV dramas, including the General Motors Hour
General Motors Theatre
General Motors Theatre was a Canadian television anthology series, which ran on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation under its various titles from 1953 until 1961. First transmitted under the sponsored title on October 5 1954, a new 60-minute drama would be presented each week...
, with actors Gordon Pinsent
Gordon Pinsent
Gordon Edward Pinsent, CC, FRSC is a Canadian television, theatre and film actor.-Early life:Pinsent, the youngest of six children, was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, the son of Flossie ; originally from Clifton, Newfoundland, and Stephen Arthur Pinsent, a papermill worker and cobbler;...
, Barry Morse
Barry Morse
Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...
, Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet
Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian American entertainer as a singer and actor. He played the role of Lancelot in the Broadway musical Camelot of 1960.-Early life:...
and Douglas Campbell
Douglas Campbell (actor)
Douglas Campbell, CM was a Canadian-based stage actor. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland.-Acting career:...
.
Theatrical work: Paris, New York, London, and beyond
In 1969, Sharland went to live in Paris, FranceParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where she opened her own English-speaking
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
cafe-theatre, featuring new plays, and she details the experience in her 2008 book A Theatrical Feast in Paris which profiles many of the city's famous theatres and restaurants, including Le Grand Véfour
Le Grand Véfour
Le Grand Véfour, the first grand restaurant in Paris, France, was opened in the arcades of the Palais-Royal in 1784 by Antoine Aubertot, as the Café de Chartres, and was purchased in 1820 by Jean Véfour, who was able to retire within three years, selling the resataurant to Jean Boissier...
.
In 1983, she re-located to New York City, and served as personal assistant
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
to actor Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
on his final tour of the USA in The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. She started writing plays, three of which were produced at American Theatre of Actors in New York. After Brynner's death, Sharland moved back to London, producing an anthology entitled Love From Shakespeare to Coward at the Theatre Museum
Theatre Museum
The Theatre Museum in the Covent Garden district of London, England, was the United Kingdom's national museum of the performing arts. It was a branch of the UK's national museum of applied arts, the Victoria and Albert Museum...
, and she cast over 200 actors to work in it over 6 years.
Recent activities
Elizabeth Sharland's 2009 book, Passionate Pilgrimages, recounts her years of travelling through Europe and Africa, describing her journey to meet the American composer and writer Paul BowlesPaul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
, and also offers memories of her family in Tasmania as well as the composers, writers and musicians she went to visit during her career. The book was launched at Hatchard's in London in May 2009, and also on board the RMS Queen Mary 2 in July 2009. Her latest book, Behind the Doors of Notorious Covent Garden is featured as part of New York Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
's New Books in the Performing Arts series, where Sharland is joined by actress Tammy Grimes and cabaret artist Steve Ross at a March 10, 2011 event at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center.
She lectures regularly on board the Cunard
Cunard Line
Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
line of cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
s, as well as for the American Australian Association, the Society for the Four Arts, the English Speaking Union in Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
and New York, The University Club, the Harvard Club
Harvard Club of New York
The Harvard Club of New York is a private club in Midtown Manhattan, New York, New York, USA. Anyone who has attended Harvard University may apply to become a member. Incorporated in 1887, it is housed in adjoining lots at 27 West 44th Street and 35 West 44th Street...
, the National Arts Club
National Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
and the National Portrait Gallery in London. She also serves as food editor for the Palm Beach Society Magazine.
She is married to a Dublin born psychiatrist and has one son.
External links
Elizabeth Sharland official website: http://sharland.com"On Books: Take well-guided tour where creativity dwells", Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post is a major daily newspaper in Florida, serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and the Treasure Coast area. It is the 72nd largest daily newspaper in the United States and the sixth largest in Florida.-History:...
, Sunday, 23 November 2008: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/accent/epaper/2008/11/23/books_column_1123.html
"People by Andrew Pierce", The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 4 January 2005: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article408149.ece
Portrait listing at National Library of Australia: http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1145542
Behind the Doors of Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
by Elizabeth Sharland http://www.fourarts.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.one&content_id=558&x=3443831
"Elizabeth Sharland to talk about famous people's homes at Palm Beach Book Store", Palm Beach Daily News, 9 December 2008 http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/arts/content/arts/2008/12/09/BriefBook1210.html
Elizabeth Sharland reads at Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
, New York City http://geo.international.gc.ca/world/site/includes/print.asp?lang=en&print=1&url=%2Fcan-am%2Fnew_york%2Fright_nav%2Funsseptember2008-en.asp#Readings
Author listing at Goodreads.com http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/297708.Elizabeth_Sharland
Video excerpt of Elizabeth Sharland's presentation at Barnes and Noble in New York City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMpGksDzAO0