Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1858)
Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey (21 September 1858 – 30 July 1923) was an English actor, director, producer and
Born to a long-established
Regarded as Britain's leading comedy actor of his generation, Hawtrey was mentor and role model to younger actors including Noël Coward. Towards the end of his career Hawtrey starred in a handful of silent movies.
Early life
Hawtrey was born at
From Rugby, Hawtrey went briefly to a crammer in London, to study for a career in the army, but soon abandoned the idea. He worked as a private tutor from 1876 to 1879 and then he began his theatrical career. It started badly: he broke his collar-bone while playing football and had to withdraw from the cast before the opening night.[3] In February 1881 he matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford,[4] but withdrew in October, having been cast in the supporting role of Edward Langton in F. C. Burnand's The Colonel at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, London. Uncertain of success, he temporarily adopted the stage name Charles Bankes. He was well received in the play, and was given valuable lessons in stagecraft from the producer:
He taught me a great many elementary rules which were most helpful – such as the actions of my hands and arms, walking on the stage, holding myself as easily as I could, and above all things he would never let me put my hands in my pockets. Of course my hands always felt like two great hams and I never knew what to do with them, but I found that eventually I forgot all about them and then they behaved naturally![5]
Actor-manager
In early 1882 Hawtrey played Jack Merryweather in The Marble Arch, which starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Later in that year he toured in The Colonel in a cast headed by Charles Collette.[6] Two of Hawtrey's brothers, William and George (father of the economist Ralph Hawtrey),[7][8] had also become actors, and in early 1883, Charles and William led a small touring company to towns in south-east England.[9]
In 1884 Hawtrey had a huge success in London presenting his own adaptation of a German farce by Gustav von Moser, Der Bibliothekar, rewritten as
Hawtrey pursued a career as an
After the war Hawtrey appeared occasionally in silent films:
Hawtrey was generous in fostering talent. Among the young actors whose careers he encouraged was Noël Coward, who wrote in his memoirs about "the kindness and care of Hawtrey's direction. He took endless trouble with me ... and taught me during those two short weeks many technical points of comedy acting which I use to this day."[16] One of the dramatists that he promoted was Horace Newte whose one act drama A Labour of Love Hawtrey presented at The Comedy Theatre in 1897.[17]
Personal life
Hawtrey was twice married. His first wife, whom he married on 3 June 1886, was Madeline ("Mae") Harriet, née Sheriffe; he left her in 1891 and she divorced him in 1893.
Last years and posterity
From 1920 Hawtrey's health deteriorated.[19] He was knighted in 1922. He died, aged 64, on 30 July 1923 and is buried at Richmond. His memoirs were edited by Maugham and published in 1924 as The Truth at Last.[20]
Notes and references
- Notes
- ^ Hawtrey liked to claim that he introduced the queueing system to the West End, to control the crowds who came to see the play,[9] but Richard D'Oyly Carte had anticipated him by three years, instituting queueing at the Savoy Theatre in 1881.[12]
- References
- ^ a b c d e f g Read, Michael, "Hawtrey, Sir Charles Henry (1858–1923)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2008, retrieved 27 September 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ^ Hawtrey, p. 32
- ^ Hawtrey, p. 88
- Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource.
- ^ Hawtrey, p. 104
- ^ Morley, p.
- ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, Essex volume, Melville Henry Massue, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994 (reprint), p. 611
- ^ a b c Child, H H. "Hawtrey, Sir Charles Henry", Dictionary of National Biography, 1937, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography archive, retrieved 27 September 2013 (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ^ "Theatre Royal", The Manchester Guardian, 14 April 1885, p. 6
- ^ Parker, p. 1198
- ^ Cellier, p. 129
- ^ Parker, p. 1153
- ^ "Lord and Lady Algy", The Era, 23 April 1898, p. 15
- ^ Morley, pp. 167–168
- ^ Coward, p. 66
- ^ At the Play. The Observer 25 July 1897
- ^ "Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division", The Times, 20 April 1893, p. 3
- ^ Morley, p. 169
- ^ Hawtrey, passim
Sources
- Cellier, François; Bridgeman, Cunningham (1914). Gilbert and Sullivan and Their Operas. London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 58942004.
- Coward, Noël (2004) [1937]. Present Indicative. London: Methuen. ISBN 0413774139.
- Hawtrey, Charles (1924). Maugham, W Somerset (ed.). The Truth at Last. London: Butterworth. OCLC 2613292.
- Morley, Sheridan (1986). The Great Stage Stars. London: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 0816014019.
- Parker, John (1925). Who's Who in the Theatre (fifth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. OCLC 10013159.