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Edwin Booth Biography

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BOOTH, EDWIN THOMAS (1833-93) A distinguished American actor, the son of Junius Brutus Booth. He was born at Belair, Md., Nov. 13, 1833, and early showed his studious temperament. Brought up to the stage by his father, he made his debut in Boston in 1849. In 1851 he took his father's place as Richard III at the Chatham Square Theatre, New York. The next season they went to California, and after his father's return he remained in the West for several years, visiting also the Sandwich Islands and Australia (1854). He returned from California late in 1856, and after a tour in the South made, in Boston (April, 1857), an immense success as Sir Giles Overreach. Shortly afterward he repeated his triumph in New York. There, also, he became acquainted with Mary Devlin, whom he married in 1860. She died in 1863. It was in 1861 that he first appeared in London, where, after playing Shylock and Sir Giles, he won great popularity as Richelieu. In 1863 he took control of the Winter Garden, New York, and there his productions of Hamlet and other Shakespearean plays were famously successful. After the assassination of Lincoln by his brother, John Wilkes Booth, he retired temporarily from the stage, but reappeared in New York in January, 1866. He married, in 1869, Mary McVicker, who lived till 1881. In 1869 "Booth's Theatre" was built, where his success for a time was both artistic and financial; but the panic of 1873 made him a bankrupt. His tours in the years that followed, however, amply restored his fortunes. In 1880, and again in 1882, he visited Europe, and was received with the most flattering distinction, both. in England and Germany. Some time after his return he formed a partnership with Lawrence Barrett, with whom he continued to appear till the death of Barrett in 1891. He himself then retired from the stage. He was generally regarded as the leading American tragedian, and in a few great characters he was without a rival. His Hamlet was probably his most popular role, but his Lear and Othello were especially admired, besides other parts already mentioned. He was not a man of imposing bodily appearance, being rather below the medium stature; but his frame was compact, his carriage at once dignified and graceful, his eye piercing, his features grave. He was thoroughly absorbed in his parts, and his voice was under such complete control as to express, upon occasion, any shade of feeling, sentiment, or conviction. His rendering of familiar Shakespearean passages displayed a fine appreciation of their substance, and of the lights and shades of manner and expression by which their full meaning may be brought out. In his private life he was greatly esteemed. He was the founder and first president of the Players' Club, of New York, in the home of which, given by himself, he died, June 7, 1893.