Charles Harcourt (real name Charles Parker Hillier) (1838–1880) was a British actor. Harcourt was born in June 1838. After obtaining some experience by acting with amateurs, he made his first public appearance at

St. James's Theatre The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A suc ...

, London, on 30 March 1863, as Robert Audley in a dramatic version of

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 – 4 February 1915) was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel ''Lady Audley's Secret'', which has also been dramatised and filmed several times. ...

's novel ''

Lady Audley's Secret ''Lady Audley's Secret'' is a sensation novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon published in 1862. John Sutherland. "Lady Audley's Secret" in ''The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction'', 1989. It was Braddon's most successful and well-known novel. ...

.'' In February 1866 he was seen at Drury Lane as Baron Steinfort in ''The Stranger,'' in January 1867 as Frank Rochdale in ''John Bull,'' and in March 1868 as Count Henry de Villetaneuve in ''The Prisoner of Toulon.'' He had engagements at the

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

, at the Strand, at the Charing Cross, 1872, and at the Globe in the following year. From Easter 1871 to Easter 1872 he was the lessee of the Marylebone Theatre. Some of the most important parts he played were Captain Absolute at the Charing Cross, November 1872; Claude Melnotte at the

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

, May 1876; Pygmalion in the revival of Gilbert's '' Pygmalion and Galatea'' at the same house, January 1877; and Count d'Aubeterre in ''Proof'' at the Adelphi, 1878. He afterwards appeared as Mercutio in '' Romeo and Juliet,'' a part which he acted with spirit and discretion, and of which after the death of George Vining he was the best exponent. His last impersonation was the outcast Bashford in ''The World'' at Drury Lane, 1880. He was an able, vigorous, and conscientious actor. From January 1880 he was the secretary of the National Dramatic Academy. On 18 October 1880 he, while rehearsing the character of Horatio at the Haymarket Theatre, fell into the scene dock at the back of the stage, inadvertently left open. He died of

erysipelas Erysipelas () is a relatively common bacterial infection of the superficial layer of the skin ( upper dermis), extending to the superficial lymphatic vessels within the skin, characterized by a raised, well-defined, tender, bright red rash, t ...

on 28 October at the

Charing Cross Hospital Charing Cross Hospital is an acute general teaching hospital located in Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom. The present hospital was opened in 1973, although it was originally established in 1818, approximately five miles east, in central L ...

, and was buried at

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

on 2 November, leaving a widow and one daughter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harcourt, Charles 1838 births 1880 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English male stage actors 19th-century English male actors