Francis Wilson (February 7, 1854 – October 7, 1935) was an American actor.

Career

Wilson was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

. He began his career in a minstrel show with Haverly's United Mastodon Minstrels, but by 1878 was playing at the

Chestnut Street Theatre The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first theater in the United States built by entrepreneurs solely as a venue for paying audiences.The Chestnut Street Theatre Project The New Theatre (First Chestnut Street Theatre) ...

, Philadelphia, and the next year appeared in ''M'liss'' with Annie Pixley. After several years in regular

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

, he took up some

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a n ...

, appearing with the

McCaull Comic Opera Company The McCaull Comic Opera Company, also called the McCaull Opera Comique Company, was an American theatral production company founded by Colonel John A. McCaull in 1880. The company produced operetta, comic opera and musical theatre in New York City ...

and making a great success in ''

Erminie ''Erminie'' is a comic opera in two acts composed by Edward Jakobowski with a libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton, based loosely on Charles Selby's 1834 English translation of the French melodrama, '' Robert Macaire''. The piece first p ...

'' (1886). In 1889, leaving New York's Casino Theatre, he made his appearance as a star in ''

The Oolah ''The Oolah'' is an 1889 comic opera which starred Francis Wilson and Marie Jansen on Broadway. Production The opera is an adaptation of Charles Lecocq's ''La Jolie Persane'', with a liberal adaptation of the libretto by Sydney Rosenfeld, and ...

''. Plays in which he starred subsequently include '' The Merry Monarch'' (1890); ''The Lion Tamer'' (1891); ''The Little Corporal'' (1898); ''The Little Father of the Wilderness'' (1905); 'nd ''The Bachelor's Baby'' (1909), which he also wrote. He also appeared in several productions of Rip Van Winkle. He formed his own theatre company in 1899. He was the author of ''

Joseph Jefferson Joseph Jefferson III, commonly known as Joe Jefferson (February 20, 1829 – April 23, 1905), was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous 19th century American comedia ...

: Reminiscences of a Fellow Player'' (1906), ''The

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, Missouri ...

I Knew'' (1898), ''Francis Wilson's Life of Himself'' (1924), and ''

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

: Fact and Fiction of Lincoln's Assassination'' (1929), written with information from his close friend

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatric ...

. Wilson wrote several plays, of which ''The Bachelor's Baby'' was the most successful. He was the founding president of the

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

Family

Wilson's first wife was Mira Barrie with whom he had two daughters. Their older daughter was

Frances Wilson Huard Frances Wilson Huard (October 2, 1885 – February 1969) was an American-born writer, translator, and lecturer who wrote memoirs of life during World War I in France. Early life Frances Barrie Wilson was the daughter of comic actor Francis Wil ...

, who became a French baroness, and wrote memoirs of her life in France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. After her death he married Edna Bruns (1879–1960) with whom he had a son and daughter.Birth date August 17, 1879, St. Charles, MO. Died July 23, 1960, New York, New York. Family Records of granddaughter, Margalo Ashley-Farrand

Francis Wilson Playhouse

Francis Wilson Playhouse is the successor to the Clearwater Players, organized in 1930 as a community theater which presented productions in ad hoc venues around

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a popu ...

for several years. In 1935, the first president of

Actors Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

, Francis Wilson, a winter resident in Clearwater, convinced a friend, Mary Curtis Bok (later Zimbalist,) to contribute $5,000 for the construction of a permanent home for the Clearwater Players. Mrs. Bok agreed to the contribution on the condition that the Theater would be named after Francis Wilson, who at that time was the premier actor of the New York stage. The bronze plaque of Mary Bok over the fireplace in the lobby is the only thanks she would accept. The City of Clearwater leased the land the theater currently sits on for a term of 99 years for the rental sum of $1.00 per year, and the theater was built in 1936.

References

Sources

*Clapp and Edgett, ''Players of the Present'' (New York, 1901) *Kenrick, John. (2003
Who's Who in Musicals: Addendum 2003
Retrieved March 17, 2007.
FrancisWilsonPlayhouse.org
*

External links

* *
Francis Wilson papers, 1875-1958
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Francis Male actors from Philadelphia Male actors from New Rochelle, New York American male stage actors American dramatists and playwrights American biographers 1854 births 1935 deaths Vaudeville performers Burials at Kensico Cemetery Historians from New York (state) Presidents of the Actors' Equity Association