Joseph Proctor (May 7, 1816 – October 2, 1897) was a popular 19th-century American actor. He was best known for playing the lead role in the melodrama ''

Nick of the Woods ''Nick of the Woods; or, The Jibbenainesay '' is an 1837 novel by American author Robert Montgomery Bird. Noted today for its savage depiction of Native Americans, it was Bird's most successful novel and a best-seller at the time of its release.W ...

''.(3 October 1897)
Joseph Proctor (obituary)
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Bordman, Gerald & Thomas S. Hischak. ''The Oxford Companion to American Theatre'', p. 512 (3d ed. 2004)

Career

Proctor was born in

Marlborough, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the ...

, in 1816 to Nicholson and Lucy (Bond) Proctor. He first appeared on stage in Boston in November 1833 playing Damon in

John Banim John Banim (3 April 1798 – 30 August 1842), was an Irish novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet and essayist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland." He also studied art, working as a painter of miniatures and portraits, and as a drawin ...

's ''Damon and Pythias''. By 1837 he was playing lead roles in Philadelphia. Commencing on May 6, 1839, at the

Bowery Theatre The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse on the Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populi ...

in New York, he took the lead role of Nathan Slaughter (and Jibbenainosay) in ''

'' (Proctor actually played six roles in the play, which was usually an advertised feature of his performances.) Though he played many other roles in his career, this was the "play with which his name was so continuously associated as to create the impression that he never acted any other characters of consequence." He performed the role over 2,500 times.Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography
Vol. IV, p. 521 (1914)Shelley, Mortimer M
Blobson's dire mishaps in a barn storming company, appended chapter on "History of the American Stage"
p. 8 (1890) (adding to impression that Proctor only performed in one play: "the success was so great at (The Bowery) he continued afterwards to play this and no other for 45 years or more.")Tompkins, Eugen
The History of the Boston Theatre, 1854–1901
p. 125 (1908) Proctor performed throughout the United States and did some theater management. He went to Europe to perform from 1859 to 1861. He retired from the stage in the 1880s, except for occasional benefit appearances.Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies
entry by Edwin Francis Edgett (1928–36)Guild, Curti
A chat about celebrities: or, The story of a book
pp. 269–71 (1897)Leman, Walter Moore
Memories of an old actor
pp. 353–58 (1886) ("If he plays the 'Jibbenainosay' more frequently than Shakespeare, it is not that he loves the immortal bard less, but that the multitude love the 'Jibbenainosay' the more.")

Personal

Proctor first married Hester Warren (1810–41) in 1837, one of the daughters of actor William Warren (1767–1832).A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660–1800: W. West to Zwingman...
p. 76 (1993) In 1851 he married Elizabeth Wakeman. Their daughter Anna E. Proctor also went on stage later. Proctor died in Boston on October 2, 1897.The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Vol. XV
p. 47 (1916)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Proctor, Joseph American male stage actors 1816 births 1897 deaths 19th-century American male actors People from Marlborough, Massachusetts Male actors from Massachusetts