WILLIAM

See also:

• FARREN, ELIZABETH (c. 1759-1829)
• WILLIAM FARREN (1786-1861)

FARREN (1786-1861)  , English actor, was born on the 13th of May 1786, the son of an actor (b . 1725) of the same name, who played leading roles from 1784 to 1795 at Covent Garden . His first appearance on the stage was at Plymouth at the Theatre Royal, then under the management of his brother, in Love d la mode . His first London appearance was in 1818 at Covent Garden as Sir Peter Teazle, a part with which his name is always associated . He played at Covent Garden every winter until 1828, and began in 1824 a series of summer engagements at the Haymarket which also lasted some years . At these two theatres he played an immense variety of comedy characters . From 1828 until 1837 he was at Drury Lane, where he essayed a wider range, including Polonius and Caesar . He was again at Covent Garden for a few years, and next joined Benjamin Webster at the Haymarket, as stage-manager as well as actor . In 1843 at the close of his performance of the title-part in Mark Lemon's Old Parr, he was stricken with paralysis on the stage . He was, however, able to reappear the following year, and he remained at the Haymarket ten years more, though his acting never again reached its former level . For a time he managed the Strand, and, 1850-1853, was lessee of the Olympic . During his later years he confined himself to old men parts, in which he was unrivalled .

In 1855 he made his final appearance at the Haymarket, as

Lord Ogleby in a scene from the Clandestine Marriage . He died in London on the 24th of September 1861 . In 1825 he had married the actress Mrs Faucit, mother of Miss Helena Saville Faucit (Lady Martin), and he left two sons, Henry (1826–186o) and William (1825-1908), both actors . The former was the father of Ellen [Nellie] Farren (1848-1904), long famous for boy's parts in Gaiety musical burlesques, in the days of Edward Terry and Fred Leslie . As Jack Sheppard, and in similar roles, she had a unique position at the Gaiety, and was an unrivalled public favourite . From 1892 her health failed, and her retirement, coupled with Fred Leslie's death, brought to an end the type of Gaiety burlesque associated with them .