Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare, née Arden, (c. 1537–1608) was the mother of William Shakespeare. She was the daughter of Wilmcote gentleman farmer Robert Arden, a cadet of the Arden family prominent in Warwickshire since before the Norman Conquest. She was the youngest of eight daughters, and when her father died in 1556 she inherited land at Snitterfield and Wilmcote from her father as a dowry. The house was left to her stepmother Agnes Hill. Richard Shakespeare, the father of John Shakespeare, was a tenant farmer on land owned by her father in Snitterfield. As the daughter of Richard's landlord, she
Jane Arden (actress) title role on several occasions when Vanessa Redgrave was indisposed - in the West End and in Washington DC. Arden's television credits include "Lost Empires" with Colin Firth and Laurence Olivier, "The Strauss Dynasty" a biography of Johann Strauss with John Gielgud, and Edward Fox and she played Mary Ellen in the Catherine Cookson's series "A Dinner of Herbs". In 2009 Jane started her own theatre company; British Actors Group touring dinner theatre and bespoke productions. The company is going to the Middle and Far East this Autumn. Jane Arden (actress) Jane Arden (fl. since 1980s) is an English actress.