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SIR HENRY IRVING (1838-1905)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 856 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:HENRY See also:IRVING (1838-1905)  , See also:English actor, whose See also:original name was See also:John Brodribb, was See also:born at Keinton-See also:Mandeville, See also:Somerset, on the 6th of See also:February 1838 . After a few years' schooling he became a clerk to a See also:firm of See also:East See also:India merchants in See also:London, but he soon gave up a commercial career and started as an actor . On the 29th of See also:September 1856 he made his first See also:appearance at See also:Sunderland as Gaston, See also:duke of See also:Orleans, in Bulwer See also:Lytton's See also:Richelieu, billed as See also:Henry See also:Irving . This name he eventually assumed by royal See also:licence . For ten years he went through an arduous training in various provincial stock companies, acting in more than five See also:hundred parts . By degrees his ability gained recognition, and in 1866 he obtained an engagement at the St See also:James's See also:Theatre, London, to See also:play Doricourt in The Belle's Stratagem . A See also:year later he joined the See also:company of the newly-opened See also:Queen's Theatre, where he acted with See also:Charles See also:Wyndham, J . L . See also:Toole, Lionel See also:Brough, John See also:Clayton, Mr and Mrs See also:Alfred See also:Wigan, Ellen See also:Terry and Nelly See also:Farren . This was followed by See also:short engagements at the See also:Hay-See also:market, See also:Drury See also:Lane and Gaiety . At last he made his first conspicuous success as See also:Digby See also:Grant in James See also:Albery's The Two See also:Roses, which was produced at the See also:Vaudeville on the 4th of See also:June 187o and ran for 300 nights . In 1871 he began his' association with the See also:Lyceum Theatre by an engagement under See also:Bateman's management .

The fortunes of the See also:

house were at- a See also:low ebb when the See also:tide was turned by Irving''s immediate success as Mathias in The Bells, a version of Erckmann-Chatrian's Le Juif Polonais by See also:Leopold See also:Lewis . The play ran for 150 nights; With See also:Miss Bateman, Irving was seen in W . G . See also:Wills's Charles I. and See also:Eugene See also:Aram, in Richelieu, and in 1874 in See also:Hamlet . The unconventionality of this last performance, during a run of 200 nights, aroused keen discussion, and singled him out as the most interesting English actor of his See also:day . In 1875, still with Miss Bateman, he was seen as See also:Macbeth; in 1876 as Othello, and as See also:Philip in See also:Tennyson's Queen See also:Mary; in 1877in See also:Richard III. and The See also:Lyons See also:Mail . In 1878 Irving opened the Lyceum under his own management . With Ellen Terry as Ophelia and Portia, he revived Hamlet and produced The See also:Merchant of See also:Venice (1879) . His' Shylock was as much discussed as his Hamlet had been, the dignity with which he invested the See also:Jew marking a departure from the traditional See also:interpretation of the role, and pleasing some as much as it offended others . After the See also:production of Tennyson's The See also:Cup, a revival of Othello (in which Irving played Iago to the Othello of See also:Edwin See also:Booth) and of Romeo and Juliet, there began a See also:period at the Lyceum which had a potent effect on the English See also:stage . The Lyceum stage management, and the brilliancy of its productions in scenery, dressing and accessories; were revelations in the See also:art of See also:mise-en-See also:scene . Much See also:Ado about Nothing (1882) was followed by Twelfth See also:Night (1884), Olivia—an See also:adaptation of See also:Goldsmith's See also:Vicar of IVakeiield by W .

G . Wills (1885); See also:

Faust (1886); Macbeth (1888): The Dead See also:Heart, by See also:Watts See also:Phillips 0889); and Ravenswood—Herman See also:Merivale's dramatic version of See also:Scott's See also:Bride of Lammermoor (1890) . See also:Fine assumptions in 1892 of the characters of See also:Wolsey in Henry VIII. and of See also:King See also:Lear were followed in 1893 by a striking and dignified performance of See also:Becket in Tennyson's play of that name . During these years too, Irving, with the whole Lyceum company, paid several visits to See also:America, which met with conspicuous success, and were repeated in succeeding years . The See also:chief remaining novelties at the Lyceum during Irving's See also:sole managership (the theatre passed, at the beginning of 1899, into the hands of a limited liability company) were Comyns Carr's King See also:Arthur in 1895; Cymbeline, in which Irving played Iachimo, in 1896; See also:Sardou's Madame Sans-Geene in 1897; See also:Peter the See also:Great, a play by Laurence Irving, the actor's second son, in 1898; and Conan See also:Doyle's See also:Waterloo (1894) . The new regime at the Lyceum was signalized by the production of Sardou's See also:Robespierre in 1899, in which Irving reappeared after a serious illness, and in 1901 by an elaborate revival of See also:Coriolanus . Irving's only subsequent production in London was Sardou's See also:Dante (1903), a vast spectacular See also:drama, staged at Drury Lane . He died " on tour " at See also:Bradford on the 13th of See also:October 1905, and was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey . Both on and off the stage Irving always maintained a high ideal of his profession, and in 1895 he received the See also:honour of See also:knighthood, the first ever accorded an actor . He was also the recipient of honorary degrees from the See also:universities of See also:Dublin, See also:Cambridge and See also:Glasgow . His acting, apart from his See also:genius as a presenter of plays, divided See also:criticism, opinions differing as to the extent to which his mannerisms of See also:voice and deportment interfered with or assisted the expression of his ideas . So strongly marked a See also:personality as his could not help giving its own colouring to whatever See also:part he might assume, but the richness and originality of this colouring at its best cannot be denied, any more than the spirit and See also:intellect which characterized his renderings .

At the least, extraordinary versatility must be conceded to an actor who could satisfy exacting audiences in roles so widely different as Digby Grant and See also:

Louis XI., Richard III. and Becket, Benedick and Shylock, Mathias and Dr See also:Primrose . See also:Sir Henry Irving had two sons, Harty Brodribb (b . 187o) and Laurence (b . 1872) . They were educated for other walks of See also:life, the former for the See also:bar, and the latter for the See also:diplomatic service; but both turned to the stage, and the See also:elder, who had already established himself as the most prominent of the younger English actors at the See also:time of his See also:father's See also:death, went into management on his own See also:account .

End of Article: SIR HENRY IRVING (1838-1905)
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