Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (December 22, 1821 – September 17, 1883) was an American

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and theatre manager. As a member of the illustrious Booth family of actors, Junius Brutus Booth Jr. was overshadowed by his father Junius Sr. and brothers Edwin and

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English Radicalism (historical), radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlese ...

(the

assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

) and later by his wife Agnes, a successful actress. Booth was married three times. His first marriage was to Clementine DeBar, sister of

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and theatrical manager Ben DeBar; the marriage ended in divorce. He then married actress Harriet Mace, (1833-1859) who performed first in Boston with Junius on 21 July 1851 on the steamer Tennessee from Panama with three others from their troupe to perform at the new Pacific Theatre as announced on 20 August 1851 in Sacramento. Harriet Booth died from complications in childbirth in August 1859. His third marriage, upon returning East in 1867 and becoming manager of The Boston Theatre, was to Agnes Perry (née Rookes), who thereafter was known professionally as Agnes Booth. Booth had five children in total. A daughter Marion Rosalie Edwina (1859–1932) from his second marriage and four sons from his third marriage, of whom two survived to adulthood: Junius Brutus III (1868–1912; died by suicide), Algernon (1869–1877), Sydney Barton (1873–1937), and Barton J. (1874–1879). It is disputed whether Blanche De Bar Booth (1844–1930), the daughter of his first wife Clementine, was his daughter as she was born before their marriage. Booth managed the Boston Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre,

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current des ...

, and Booth's Theatre, where his brother Edwin was the star attraction. Though a relatively undistinguished actor, Junius Jr. was highly regarded for his performances as King John and as Cassius in ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 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 Caesar's civil wa ...

.'' In 1864 he performed ''Julius Caesar'' alongside his brothers Edwin (as

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...

) and John Wilkes (as

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

).''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'', Cambridge University Press (1995) Junius Brutus Booth Jr. himself was briefly imprisoned in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, after his brother assassinated Abraham Lincoln. At the time of the assassination, he was fulfilling an acting engagement at Pike's Opera House in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Booth left Cincinnati by

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

on April 17 and arrived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on April 19. Booth notified the U.S. Marshal of his presence in the city and was arrested and hurried by train to the Old Capitol Prison, where he was interrogated and released. Booth retired in 1881 to Masconomo House in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, where he died on September 17, 1883. He was buried in Manchester's Rosedale Cemetery. Although Agnes Booth remarried in 1885, she continued performing under the Booth name and was buried next to him when she died in 1910.

References

External links

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Junius Brutus Booth Jr.
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LincolnConspirators.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Junius Brutus Jr. 1821 births 1883 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors American theatre managers and producers American people of English descent American prisoners and detainees Junius Brutus Jr.