William Jermyn Conlin (July 26, 1831 – November 19, 1891), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

William J. Florence, was a US

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Florence awarded the ribbon of the French Societe Histoire Dramatique. He was also co-founder with Walter M. Fleming of the

Shriners Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Shriners International describes itself ...

, a

Masonic Order Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Biography

Born of Irish parents and raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Florence worked at various jobs before becoming a call boy at the Old Bowery Theater. While working to support his widowed mother and her seven younger children, he rehearsed plays at night, and in 1850 he began to do dialect impersonations. In 1853 he married Malvina Pray, and thereafter the two generally appeared together on the stage; he usually as an Irishman and she as a Yankee. Florence gained national prominence with a forty-year career in which he excelled at playing the humorous and poetic Irish character. ''Ticket-of-Leave Man'' was presented by him more than one thousand times on national tours. In his later years he partnered with actor Joseph Jefferson as half of a comedy duo. From Malvina's observation of wealthy American on vacation abroad, Florence asked Benjamin Edward Woolf to write ''The Mighty Dollar'', that the couple would perform in over 2,500 times during the mid-1870s and well into the 1880s. Conlin was fond of

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, where he had an apartment, and adopted the city for his stage name.Gaylor Bronson Conlin, Sr., b. 1913, d. 10-17-2004 At some point after he became famous under this name, he secured the legal right to it. Florence's first success was in ''A Row at the Lyceum'' (1851); following this, he established his reputation as Captain Cuttle in ''Dombey and Son'', Bob Brierly in '' The Ticket-of-Leave Man'', and Sir Lucius O’Trigger in ''

The Rivals ''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 List of Maverick ...

''. His last appearance was as Zekiel Homespun in a production of ''Heir-at-Law''. Florence died in Philadelphia on November 19, 1891. He is interred at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...

in Brooklyn.

Literature

* McKay and Wingate, ''Famous American Actors of To-Day'' (New York, 1896) *

Matthews Matthews may refer to: People * Matthews (surname) Places * Matthews Island, Antarctica * Matthews Range, Kenya * Mount Matthews, New Zealand United States * Matthews, Georgia * Matthews, Indiana * Matthews, Maryland * Matthews, Missouri * Mat ...

and Hutton, ''Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States'' (New York, 1886) *

Winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

, ''

The Wallet of Time ''The Wallet of Time'' is a publication by William Winter, published in two volumes in 1913. Overview The book focuses on American stage actors and actresses, most of whom had been born in Europe, of the nineteenth century and the first decade of ...

'' (New York, 1913)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, William J. American male stage actors Songwriters from New York (state) 1831 births 1891 deaths Shriners Writers from Albany, New York Male actors from New York (state) Actors from Albany, New York 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights The Lambs presidents 19th-century American musicians 19th-century American male actors