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Lawrence Barrett (April 4, 1838 – March 20, 1891) was an American stage actor.
Biography
![LawrenceBarrett1887](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/LawrenceBarrett1887.jpg)
A native of
Paterson, New Jersey, Barrett was born in 1838 to Mary Agnes (née Read) Barrett and tailor Thomas Barrett, Irish immigrants who had settled in Paterson. He was raised in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
[Bordman, Gerald and Thomas S. Hischak. ''The Oxford Companion to American Theatre''. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 55. ] and made his first stage appearance there in 1853 as Murad in ''The French Spy''.
[ In December 1856 he made his first New York appearance at the Chambers Street theatre as Sir Thomas Clifford in ''The Hunchback''.
In 1858 he was in the repertory company at the Boston Museum. In 1862 enlisted for the ]American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, and was appointed a captain in Company B of the 28th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment; he served until resigning in 1863. From 1868 to 1870, with John McCullough, he managed the California theatre, San Francisco, where he frequently toured the interior towns with McCullough and casts from the theater.
Among his many and varied parts may be mentioned Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
, King Lear
''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.
It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane ...
, Macbeth, Shylock, Richard III, Wolsey, Benedick in ''Much Ado About Nothing
''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...
'', Richelieu, David Garrick, ''Hernani'', Alfred Evelyn, Lanciotto in George Henry Boker's (1823–1890) '' Francesca da Rimini'', and Janies Harebell in ''The Man o' Airlie''.
Barrett acted in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1867, 1882, 1883 and 1884, his " Cardinal Richelieu" portrayal in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's drama being considered his best part. In 1889, he produced the first performance of '' The Duchess of Padua'', retitling it ''Guido Ferranti'' and taking on the title role. In 1869 Barrett partnered with actor John McCullough in the creation of San Francisco's California Theater, leaving his management position within two years, although he became a frequent actor on tour of the West throughout the 1870s and 80s. He was particularly successful in Kansas City, Missouri, where he performed for a week in December 1870 in the inaugural season of the Coates Opera House; he returned 11 times. In 1889, he produced William Young's play ''Ganelon'', with himself in the title role. The expensive production set in the Middle Ages had a successful run. William S. Hart, who was initially hired to play one of the roles, recalled," The performances were given, and they were highly creditable too!"
He was managed for many years by Robert E. Stevens, the father of actress Emily Stevens and theater director Robert Stevens. In addition to his acting, Barrett also wrote a life of Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849.
Early life
Forrest was born i ...
in the American Actors Series (Boston, 1881). Of the actor, Barrett said his personality was too strong to allow his characters to show through: "He was in all things marked and distinctive. His obtrusive personality often destroyed the harmony of the portrait he was painting."
Barrett frequently worked with fellow stage actor Edwin Booth; he played Othello to Booth's Iago
Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...
and Cassius to his Brutus in ''Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
''. He wrote a sketch of his colleague for ''Edwin Booth and his Contemporaries'' (Boston, 1886). Shortly after, Barrett contacted Booth and suggested that the two tour together beginning in 1887 season. They worked together for the next several years and were immensely successful, both in popularity and in financial returns. As Booth reflected on Barrett's leadership and management, he wrote: "Well, why should I not do good work, after all Barrett has done for me... Good work, eh? Well, I'll give him the best that's in me, he deserves it."
On April 3, 1889, the two were performing in ''Othello'' but Booth's voice did not work when he attempted to deliver Iago's first lines. Barrett asked the curtain to be lowered and called for doctors before telling the audience there would be no performance that night. He was reported as saying, "We fear that this is the beginning of the end. The world may have heard for the last time the voice of the greatest actor who speaks the English language." Newspapers reported that Booth was dying, though he survived the incident.
Barrett began showing serious health problems in 1890. That year, after organizing performances starring Booth and Polish actress Helena Modjeska, he traveled to a spa in Germany before rejoining them in the fall. Due to a glandular problem, however, his face was swollen and his voice was weak. Finally, in March 1891, during a performance of ''Richelieu'' at the Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
, Barrett whispered to Booth that he could not go on. He finished the scene before being replaced by his understudy. He died three days later. A few years after his death, author Eugene Field
Eugene Field Sr. (September 2, 1850 – November 4, 1895) was an American writer, best known for his children's poetry and humorous essays. He was known as the "poet of childhood".
Early life and education
Field was born in St. Louis, Missour ...
criticized the condition of his grave in Massachusetts, writing: "The neglect with which Barrett's memory has been treated... is one of the most shameful blots upon the theatrical profession."
Personal life
Barrett married Mary F. Mayer in Boston on September 4, 1859.
He was the grandfather of stage and screen actress Edith Barrett
Edith Barrett (born Edith Barrett Williams; January 19, 1907 – February 22, 1977) was an American actress. She was a romantic star on Broadway and in the Little Theatre Movement in New England summer stock from the mid-1920s to the late 1930s ...
, the first wife of Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
.
Barrett was a longtime friend of Miss Matoaca Gay; he encouraged her studies of Shakespeare, and even gave readings at Miss Gay's study groups.[ :File:Matoaca_Gay_-_Shakespeare_clipping.png Unidentified news clipping from January 1894 in the Washington D. C. area.]
Acting style
One critic noted Barrett had "a well knit form and face capable of expressing sorrow, by the merest movement of a muscle; joy by the kindling of the eye; or rage, by the transport of the entire body". Another critic disagreed, however, writing: "Mr. Barrett is generally looked upon as being a brainy man, an earnest man, an ambitious man, and a studious man. He writes well, talks well, and manages well, but in the judgment of the metropolitan connoisseurs he does not play well. His culture and cleverness appear, they say, in everything he does except in his stage personations."[Kippola, Karl M. ''Acts of Manhood: The Performance of Masculinity on the American Stage, 1828-1865''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012: 124. ]
Quotation
References
Sources
*
*Auden, W.H.; Kronenberger, Louis (1966), ''The Viking Book of Aphorisms'', New York: Viking Press.
External links
Guide to Lawrence Barrett correspondence
a
Houghton Library
Harvard University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Lawrence
1838 births
1891 deaths
19th-century American male actors
American male stage actors
American people of Irish descent
Actors from Paterson, New Jersey
People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War