Florence Fanny O'Callaghan

GEDCOM Note

Irving’s love life seems confined to a romance with a girl who died young, and an unhappy marriage to Florence O’Callaghan, a sour-tempered young woman who came to despise the theatre. They separated on the opening night of The Bells (‘Are you going on making a fool of yourself like this all your life?’) and never spoke again. Their two sons, H.B. and Laurence, were brought up by Florence with a jaundiced view of their father, though as adults they came to enjoy a close and affectionate relationship with the Antique, as they called him. Both became charismatic actors, Laurence even writing two plays for Irving.