Thomas Cooke (actor)
Thomas Cooke | |
---|---|
Born | Marylebone, London | 23 April 1786
Died | 10 April 1864 London | (aged 77)
Nationality | British |
Occupation | actor |
Thomas Potter Cooke (23 April 1786 – 10 April 1864) was an English actor.
Early life
He was born on 23 April 1786, in Titchfield Street,
Actor and manager
In January 1804, Cooke made his stage début at the Royalty Theatre in
On 19 October 1816, Cooke appeared at Drury Lane as Diego Monez, an officer, in a melodrama, attributed to Robert Bell,[2] and called Watchword, or the Quito Gate. He then played some new characters, mainly foreigners, such as Monsieur Pas in the farce Each for Himself, Almorad, a Moor, in Manuel by Charles Maturin, and Hans Ketzler in George Soane's Castle Spectre.[1]
Career peak
On 9 August 1820, Cooke had major success at the Lyceum as Lord Ruthven, the hero of The Vampyre, and in the following year strengthened his reputation as Dirk Hatteraick in the Witch of Derncleugh, a version of Guy Mannering, George in The Miller's Maid (a melodrama of John Faucit Saville from Robert Bloomfield), and Frankenstein's monster in Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein, Richard Brinsley Peake's 1823 adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. Cooke thus became the first person to play the iconic role of Frankenstein's monster.
Cooke then joined the Covent Garden Company, and played Zenocles in Ali Pacha, by John Howard Payne, on 19 October 1822, Richard I in Maid Marian on 3 December 1822, and other parts. When, in 1825, Frederick Henry Yates and Daniel Terry took the Adelphi, Cooke was engaged and played Long Tom Coffin in Edward Fitzball's drama The Pilot. At the close of the season he visited Paris, and presented Le Monstre et le Magicien (again playing Frankenstein's monster) 80 successive nights at the Porte-Saint-Martin. In 1827 he was in Edinburgh, where he was frequently seen by Christopher North, who called him "the best sailor out of all sight and hearing that ever trod the stage".[1]
In 1828–9, Cooke was again at the Adelphi. His most conspicuous success was at the Surrey, on 8 June 1829, as William in
Last years
In October 1857, Cooke played as a star at the Standard. For the Jerrold Remembrance Night (29 July 1857) he appeared at the Adelphi as William. His last appearance was at Covent Garden, for the benefit of the Royal Dramatic College, on 29 October 1860, when he once more played William in a selection from Black-Eyed Susan.[1]
Cooke died on 10 April 1864, at 37 Thurloe Square, the house of his son-in-law. After the death of his wife, a few months before his own, he had given up his own houses in Woburn Square and at
By his will Cooke left £2,000 to the Royal Dramatic College, the interest of which was to be paid for a prize nautical drama. True to the Core, by Angiolo Robson Slous, was played on 8 January 1866.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Catalogue of the John Larpent Plays.
- ^ The Evening Standard 9 June 1829 p. 1.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Cooke, Thomas Potter". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
External links
- Media related to Thomas Cooke (actor) at Wikimedia Commons