
07/13/2025
Before she was famous, British actor Lynn Fontanne earned extra money as an artist’s model. She posed for this painting by Wilfred de Glehn in 1912, which was exhibited as “The Green Hat” at the New English Art Club.
Her career took off just four years later when she moved from England to New York City in 1916. There, she met fellow actor Alfred Lunt. The two married and formed a critically acclaimed theatrical partnership. Together, Fontanne and her husband brought a naturalism to acting that transformed American theater. One critic wrote, “They play together… with a fluency that is matchless.” From 1928 until they retired in 1960, Fontanne and Lunt starred in twenty-seven productions.
Fontanne received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in 1935 and was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Kennedy Center in 1980.
🖼️: “Lynn Fontanne” by Wilfrid Gabriel De Glehn, 1912. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. © Estate of Wilfrid de Glehn, courtesy of Messum’s Fine Art London