Emily Fitzroy (1860-1954) was acting on the British stage years before cinema was invented. But this did not prevent her notching up over a hundred film appearances.
Fitzroy relocated to the United States and performed regularly on Broadway. She made her first screen appearance in 1913, for the Philadelphia-based Lubin company, later working for Fox when the company was located in the east.
From the ages of 60 to 83, Fitzroy worked steadily as a character actor, latterly based in Hollywood, with a notable appearance as Mrs Hawks in the first screen version of Show Boat (1929). Her final film took her back to (a make-believe) England in Clarence Brown’s The White Cliffs of Dover (1944).
Fitzroy played Countess Anastasia in the 1930 version of New Moon.
