Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

EDWARD ASKEW SOTHERN (1826-1881)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 435 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

EDWARD See also:ASKEW See also:SOTHERN (1826-1881)  , See also:English actor, was See also:born in See also:Liverpool on the 1st of See also:April 1826, the son of a See also:merchant . He began acting as an See also:amateur, and in 1849 drifted into a professional engagement with a dramatic See also:company at St Heliers in See also:Jersey, where he appeared as See also:Claude Melnotte in Bulwer See also:Lytton's See also:Lady of See also:Lyons . Between then and 1858 he played in various companies without particular success, in See also:Birmingham and in See also:America, where he went in 1852 . On the 12th of May 1858 Tom See also:Taylor's Our See also:American See also:Cousin, a See also:play of no See also:special merit, was brought out in New See also:York, with See also:Sothern in the small See also:part of See also:Lord Dundreary, a See also:caricature of an English nobleman . He gradually worked up the See also:humour of this part so that it became the central figure of the play . In 1861, when it was produced at the Haymarket See also:Theatre, in See also:London, he made such a See also:hit that the piece ran for nearly five See also:hundred nights: "Dundreary whiskers " became the See also:fashion, and Dundreary this, that or the other made its See also:appearance on every See also:side . At various times Sothern revived the See also:character, which retained its popularity in spite of all the extravagances to which he See also:developed its amusing features; and his name will always be famous in connexion with this role . In T . W . See also:Robertson's See also:David See also:Garrick (1864) he again had a See also:great success, his acting in the See also:title-part, which he created, being wonderfully effective . He won wide popularity also from his See also:interpretation of Sam Slingsby in See also:Oxenford's See also:Brother Sam (1865) . Sothern was a born comedian, and off the See also:stage had a See also:passion for See also:practical joking that amounted almost to a See also:mania .

His See also:

house in See also:Kensington was a resort for See also:people of fashion, and he was as much a favourite in America as in the See also:United See also:Kingdom . He died in London on the 21st of See also:January 1881 . Sothern had three sons, all actors, the second of them, See also:EDWARD H . SOTHERN (b . 1859), being prominent on the American stage .

End of Article: EDWARD ASKEW SOTHERN (1826-1881)
[back]
WILLIAM SOTHEBY (1757-1833)
[next]
SOTHIC PERIOD

Additional information and Comments

He is buried with his sister at the Old Cemetery by The Common at Southampton.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.