William Courtenay (June 19, 1875 – April 20, 1933) was a noted Broadway star and later film actor. He was born William Hancock Kelly. At age 19 in 1894, before his Broadway career took off, Courtenay appeared in Alexander Black's slide show ''

Miss Jerry ''Miss Jerry'' is an 1894 American feature-length black-and-white silent pre-film "Picture Play" written and produced by Alexander Black and starring Blanche Bayliss. ''Miss Jerry'' was not a film, but a series of posed magic lantern slides proje ...

''. This was a sort of alternative entertainment to a new device by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

called a

Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...

à la ''moving pictures''.

Broadway

A tall, handsome leading man Courtenay appeared in plays with

Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. Life and career Mansfield was born ...

, e.g., a revival of ''Beau Brummel'' and the American premiere of ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' as well as productions produced by

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

. An early important Frohman production from 1902 was Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' his costars being Charles Richman,

Margaret Anglin Mary Margaret Warren Anglin (April 3, 1876 – January 7, 1958) was a Canadian-born Broadway actress, director and producer. Encyclopædia Britannica calls her "one of the most brilliant actresses of her day." Biography Anglin was born in Ot ...

and Margaret Dale. For three years after 1902 he appeared as leading man in plays starring

Virginia Harned Virginia Harned (May 29, 1868 – April 29, 1946), born Virginia Hicks, was a noted American stage actress at the turn of the 20th century. She is mainly remembered for playing the title character in the 1895 Broadway premiere of the play ''Tril ...

the ex-wife of

E. H. Sothern Edward Hugh Sothern (December 6, 1859 – October 28, 1933) was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles. Biography Sothern was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of English ...

and seven years Courtenay's senior. They married around 1905 and Courtenay continued being a popular leading man on Broadway. Virginia Harned largely retired from acting after one or two more plays to be Mrs. William Courtenay. They had no children. In 1913 he was chosen for the lead in ''

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

'' by Edward Sheldon and starring

Doris Keane Doris Keane (December 12, 1881 – November 25, 1945) was an American actress, primarily in live theatre. Early life and family Keane was born in Michigan to Joseph Keane and Florence Winter. She was educated privately in Chicago, New York, Pa ...

in the role of a lifetime. The lead role in this soon to be famous and very long running play made Courtenay more famous. Sheldon had originally offered the part to his friend actor

John Barrymore John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...

who declined and later regretted it. Keane and Courtenay performed the play over a thousand performances.

Motion pictures

In 1915 and some twenty years after ''Miss Jerry'', Courtenay began appearing in silent films. Still handsome and quite famous as an actor he worked for such studios as William A. Brady's World Pictures,

Vitagraph Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

and most of all

Pathe Pathe or Pathé may refer to: * Pathé, a French company established in 1896 * Pathé Exchange, U.S. division of the French film company that was spun off into an independent entity * Pathé News, a French and British distributor of cinema news ...

. For the next fifteen years he appeared alternatively in plays and motion pictures. His first of five sound films, ''

Evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

'' for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, is

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

. His penultimate sound film '' Three Faces East'' with

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

is restored and on Warner on-demand DVD.

Death

William Courtenay died at Rye, New York on April 20, 1933. His widow Virginia died in 1946.''Silent Film Necrology'' 2nd Edition, by Eugene M. Vazzana, c.2001

Filmography

*''

'' (1894) (*more slide show than motion picture) *''Sealed Lips'' (1915) *''The Island of Surprise'' (1916) * ''

The Romantic Journey ''The Romantic Journey'' is a 1916 American silent drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring William Courtenay, Macey Harlam and Alice Dovey.Parish & Pitts p.126 Cast * William Courtenay as Peter * Macey Harlam as Ratoor * Alice Do ...

'' (1916) *''The Nintety and Nine'' (1916) *'' Kick In'' (1917) *''

The Hunting of the Hawk ''The Hunting of the Hawk'' is a 1917 American silent mystery film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring William Courtenay. It was distributed by Pathé Exchange. It is an incomplete surviving film with reels in the Library of Congress and N ...

'' (1917) * '' The Recoil'' (1917) *''The Inner Ring'' (1919) (*short) *''

'' (1929) *''

The Show of Shows ''The Show of Shows'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost $850,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor. ''The Show of Sho ...

'' (1929) *'' The Sacred Flame'' (1929) *'' Three Faces East'' (1930) *''

The Way of All Men ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1930)

References

External links

* *
portrait of William Courtenay
Wayback Machine)
findagrave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtenay, William 1875 births 1933 deaths Male actors from Worcester, Massachusetts 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors American male silent film actors 20th-century American male actors