Dora Mavor Moore

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Dora Mavor Moore, OC (née Mavor; 8 April 1888 – 15 May 1979) was a Canadian actress, teacher and director who was a pioneer of Canadian theatre.

Born Dora Mavor in Glasgow, Scotland, she moved with her family to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1894, when her father, James Mavor (1854-1925), became a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto.^[1] She was the first Canadian student ever to be accepted at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated in 1912.^{[citation needed]}

In 1915, she married Francis Moore, an Army chaplain. The couple separated in 1928. They had three sons: Francis Wilfrid Mavor, James Mavor Moore, and Peter Mavor.^[2]

In 1938, she helped found an amateur theater group called the Village Players which performed Shakespeare plays in high schools of Ontario. After World War II, in 1946, she help found the New Play Society which was the first professional theatre company in Toronto founded after the war. In 1947, the company presented its first Canadian play, Lister Sinclair's The Man in the Blue Moon. The Society also assisted in creating the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada. As well she helped to bring Tyrone Guthrie, the Tony Award-winning British theatrical director, to Canada.^[3]

In 1970, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to theatre in Canada".^[4] As a recipient of the Order of Canada she received the Canadian version of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.^{[citation needed]}

Her granddaughters are actresses Charlotte Moore and Tedde Moore, and her great-grandson is actor and music producer Noah "40" Shebib.

• Dora Mavor Moore Award

• Paula Sperdakos (1995). Dora Mavor Moore: Pioneer of the Canadian Theatre. ECW Press. ISBN 1550222473.

• Gardner, David (16 December 2013). "Dora Mavor Moore". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 19 December 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2023.