E. S. Willard

Edward Smith Willard
Edward Smith Willard
	London, England
Occupation	Stage Actor
Spouse	Emily Waters
Signature

Edward Smith Willard (9 January 1853 – 9 November 1915) was an

Haymarket.^[1]

One of his greatest successes was his production of The Middleman by Henry Arthur Jones, at the Shaftesbury in 1889, he himself creating the part of Cyrus Blenkarn. He came to the United States in 1890, and made his first appearance at Palmer's Theatre (later, Wallack's Theatre) in New York, 10 November 1890, when he again acted in The Middleman, and the greeting that hailed him was that of earnest respect.

When Willard played the part of Judah Llewellyn for the first time in America, 29 December 1890, at Palmer's Theatre, he gained a verdict of emphatic admiration. Willard had long been known and esteemed, in New York, by the dramatic profession and by those persons who habitually observed the changing aspects of the Stage on both sides of the ocean, but to the American public his name had been comparatively strange. He sailed to England, then returned again to the United States in 1896, remaining till 1903, when he made 13 American tours.

In 1906, he retired from the stage, but returned on special occasions, as in 1911 for the gala performance at

His Majesty's Theatre

, London, to play the part of Brutus in the forum scene from Julius Caesar.

In 1875 Willard married Emily Waters, the daughter of a government civil servant attached to the Woolwich Arsenal station in London. Emily Waters was originally an actress but later turned to writing children’s stories and plays under the pseudonym Rachel Penn.^[3]

Edward Smith Willard was the uncle of

Shakespearen actor Edmund Willard and the great-uncle of children's author Barbara Willard. Willard died in London on 9 November 1915.^[4]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Who's Who on the Stage: the dramatic reference book and ..., Volume 1 edited by Walter Browne, Frederick Arnold Austin; 1906 pg. 227
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922). "Willard, Edward Smith". Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company.
^ Ladies' Home Journal, Volume 11; By Louisa Knapp, Edward William Bok; 1893, pg. 9
^ "Edward S. Willard Dead"; Boston Daily Globe, 10 November 1915