Robert Keeley (comedian)
Robert Keeley (1793 – 3 February 1869) was an English
Early life
Robert Keeley was born in London as one of sixteen children, his father being a watchmaker. Keeley was an apprentice printer to Hansard, but dissatisfied with this career he joined a travelling acting company. He was at the Richmond Theatre in 1813 before moving to Norwich for four years and then to the West London Theatre.
He made his professional London debut at the Olympic Theatre in 1818 as Leporello in Don Giovanni in London, based on Mozart's opera. In 1819 Keeley appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and played the original Jemmy Green in Tom and Jerry, or Life in London by William Thomas Moncrieff at the Adelphi Theatre during 1821–2. At the end of 1821 Keeley appeared at Sadler's Wells Theatre under Daniel Egerton, and in April 1822 he played Jerry in Pierce Egan's Life in London.[5]
Theatrical career
Later in 1822 Keeley appeared with
On 26 June 1829 he married
With his wife he managed the
Later years
From August 1850 to 1852 Keeley shared the management of the
Robert Keeley's last appearance before his retirement was at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in March 1857, in Thomas Morton's A Cure for the Heartache. He appeared in benefit performances in May 1861 as Touchstone in a scene from As You Like It at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, and in another in March 1862 he appeared in John Oxenford's 1835 farce Twice Killed.
Robert Keeley died on 3 February 1869 at his home in
References
- ^ Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre, Sarah Stanton and Martin Banham, Cambridge University Press (1996) pg 192
- ^ Rohrmoser, Andreas. It Lives!: Early theatre and film adaptations Archived 7 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 27 April 2011
- ISBN 978-0786469093.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was adapted for the stage many times, and the first of these interpretations was Richard Brinsley Peake's Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein (1823), which dramatized key scenes from the novel and added Frankenstein's assistant, Fritz, to the mix.
- ^ Doe, John (August 2001). "Cast and Characters - Romantic Circles". Romantic Circles. RC. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
- ^ a b c s:Keeley, Robert (DNB00) Knight, John Joseph Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 30 (Wikisource)
- ^ Walter Goodman, The Keeleys on Stage and at Home, London: Bentley and Son (1895) pg 196
- University of Marylandwebsite
- ISBN 1-4179-5438-8.
External links
- Photographs of Keeley – the National Portrait Gallery, London website
- Keeley in Alhambra; or, The Three Beautiful Princesses (1851) on Footlights Notes
- Letter from M.A. Keeley & R. Keeley, Theatre Royal Lyceum to Mrs [Sarah Desmond] Macready, Bristol, 15 May 1844 – University of Bristol Theatre Collection
- 'Mr. Keely, as Nicodemus Crowquill in Peter Wilkins. [West's Theatrical Portraits. No. 96.] (1827)' – New York Public Library Digital Gallery
- Full text of Walter Goodman's The Keeleys on Stage and at Home London: Bentley and Son 1895 on Open Library
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