Mary Jolliffe

Mary Irene Patricia Jolliffe, C.M. (November 11, 1923 – October 29, 2014), was a Canadian theatre and performing arts publicist.

Mary Jolliffe's brother-in-law, James Alexander Cowan, was a leading Canadian public relations specialist. Cowan had been approached by Canadian theatre legend Dora Mavor Moore to assist in the creation of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and to advise on a public relations strategy. At Cowan's urging, Jolliffe went to an interview with the Festival's general manager, Tom Patterson. She was hired. With Cowan's mentoring and her remarkable talents, Jolliffe served in the position for seven seasons. Her work was instrumental in successfully establishing the Festival's reputation in its early years. Following that, she was the advance publicist of the Metropolitan Opera touring company and later as the personal publicist for opera impresario Rudolf Bing, the powerful general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. the National Arts Centre, the Canada Council, the National Ballet of Canada, the O'Keefe Centre, the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council.

The 2015 production of Oedipus Rex at the Stratford Festival was dedicated to the memory of Mary Jolliffe as the Festival's first Publicity Director. When the play was first produced at Stratford in 1954, Mary Jolliffe was the publicist.

Other She was a founding member of the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) and one of its first tenants in Toronto.