Ann Gilbert (October 21, 1821 – December 2, 1904) billed as Mrs. G. H. Gilbert was a British – American actress.
She was born Anne Jane Hartley at Rochdale, Lancashire, England. At fifteen she was a pupil at the ballet school connected with Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, conducted by Paul Taglioni, and became a dancer. Her first conspicuous appearance on stage was made as a dancer, in the Norwich theatrical circuit, England, in 1845. In 1846 she married George H. Gilbert (d. 1866), a performer in the theatre company of which she was a member. Together they filled many engagements in English theatres, moving to America in 1849.
Her first 15 years in America were spent in inland cities such as Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. Mrs Gilbert's first success in a speaking part was in 1857 as Wichavenda in John Brougham's Po-ca-hon-tas.
One of the most brilliant and decisive successive successes of her professional life was gained at that theatre, when, on 5 August 1867, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Florence presented Robertson's fine comedy of "Caste," for the first time in America. On leaving the Broadway she went to Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre, which was opened, in Twenty-fourth Street, on the site of the subsequent Madison Square Theatre — demolished in 1908, — with Robertson's comedy of "Play." The cast included E. L. Davenport, George Holland, William Davidge, J. L. Polk, Agnes Ethel, and George Clarke. Mrs. Gilbert played Mrs. Kinpeck. For many years she played opposite James Lewis as his "wife", or playing old women's parts, in which she had no equal.
After Mr. Daly's death she came under Charles Frohman's management and later became a member of Annie Russell's company. On October 24, 1904, at the New Lyceum Theatre, Mrs. Gilbert made her first appearance as a star, being then in the eighty-second year of her age, in a play, by Clyde Fitch, called "Granny" with a young Marie Doro in one of her earliest roles. Her appearance in "Granny" was the beginning of the farewell season, and Granny was the last part she played. Her final appearance on the New York Stage occurred at the Lyceum Theatre, on November 12, 1904. She acted for fifty-four years (after five years as a dancer), and she remained in active employment to the last. Mrs Gilbert was uniquely respected and popular, both with audiences and behind the footlights. She performed last in Chicago on December 1, and died there on the following day from a brain hemorrhage.
See Mrs Gilbert's Stage Reminiscences (1901).