Actors and actresses

[Bert]

When did we start calling actresses "actors"? It seems to me that there is nothing wrong with the word "actress" - it's not demeaning and, so far as i know, it has no pejorative overtones. But now I see women referred to as "actors" all over the place.

[jno]

seems a bit silly to split the trade up according to sex, doesn't it? Acting is acting, whchever gender you are. I don't think female poets are called poetesses anymore, though they used to be. And while it might sound odd to think of a 'Prince Anne', the first Queen Elizabeth had no problems referring to rulers like herself as 'princes'.

[Quizmonster]

Strangely enough, the word 'actor' was originally used for performers of both genders. Pepys, in his diary in 1666, for example, refers to a female as an 'actor'. In earlier times, of course, all performers on stage were men or boys, so the idea of an 'actress' just did not arise.
I imagine the modern tendency to return to the old naming system is a result of feminism and demands for 'equality' along the same lines as 'Ms' instead of 'Miss' or 'Mrs'.

[Bert]

I disagree with jno. When you have two perfectly good words to describe male and female performing the same trade or profession it seems silly to me not to use them (both). Some trades or professions never seem to have differentiated - bus driver, for instance - but others have - bus conductor, bus conductress. Admittedly, female bus drivers were probably quite rare years ago.