Background

Charles Walter Couldock was born on April 26, 1815 in London, England. He was the son of a compositor who died when the boy was four years old. After his mother remarried, the boy was taken into the carpenter shop of his stepfather.

Education

Couldock attended the London High School, and continued his education by going to evening school, while he worked at various trades during the day.

Career

When Couldock was sixteen he saw Macready play Werner, and from that time on he was determined to be an actor. The realization of this desire, however, was delayed by the opposition of his grandmother. When she died, young Couldock turned to the stage at the age of twenty-one. He obtained his training by speaking in an elocution class, by acting with a company of strolling players at Farnham in Surrey, and by playing in stock companies at Gravesend, Bath, Southampton, and Edinburgh, arduous work that kept the young actor up many nights studying new parts. Later he was engaged to play leading roles at Birmingham, appearing on December 26, 1845, as Sir Giles Overreach in A New Way to Pay Old Debts. He remained as leading man at the Theatre Royal in Birmingham and at the Theatre Royal in Liverpool for four years, acting with all the stars of the day, Macready, John Vandenhoff, Charles Kean, Madame Vestris, Buckstone, Webster, Ellen Tree, Madame Celeste, Charles Mathews, Fanny Kemble, and many others, including the American actress Charlotte Cushman, with whom he came to America.

In America Couldock’s ability was recognized at once. He appeared on October 8, 1849, at the old Broadway Theatre playing the title role in The Stranger to Charlotte Cushman’s Mrs. Haller. He made a brief tour with her company, after which he remained for four seasons at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia as leading man.

During his first engagement in America Couldock played Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Iago, Hamlet, Cardinal Wolsey, Jacques, St. Pierre, Master Waller, Duke Aranza, Benedict, and Louis XI, then his greatest success. He also played many parts in stock. At the Walnut Street Theatre he took the part of Luke Fielding in The Willow Copse (1853), a new play brought to America by Madame Céleste, who rewarded Couldock’s brilliancy as an actor by presenting him with a copy of the drama with the right to produce it. He traveled for several seasons with this play, starring extensively with his daughter Eliza. In The Willow Copse and The Chimney Corner he made a national reputation.

In 1858 he joined Laura Keene’s company, playing the original Abel Murcott in Our American Cousin. He originated the character of Dustan Kirke in the popular domestic drama Hazel Kirke, and he played the part at the Madison Square Theatre for 486 performances before the play was withdrawn. His name was also among the prominent artists who appeared at the Boston Museum from 1850 to 1870. He appeared on the stage for sixty years, and few actors of his time equaled him in his hold on the public. He earned considerable money, but he gave it away to the poor. A complimentary benefit performance was given him May 10, 1887 (matinée), at the Star Theatre in New York City in celebration of his fiftieth year upon the stage.

A profound lover of dramatic art, he knew all the important actors of his time. He was the friend of Edwin Booth, Macready, and Joseph Jefferson.

Achievements

• Couldock's best known role was as Dunstan Kirke in Hazel Kirke, which debuted in New York in 1880 and ran for 486 consecutive performances.

Personality

Couldock was a man of fertile mind, of great vitality, and of inexhaustible energy. He was hearty, genial, full of wit, and a good story teller.

Quotes from others about the person

• Joseph Jefferson:“I have known him as a father, a husband, a friend. And during the forty years that I have known him, and longer than that, no living man can say that Charles Walter Couldock ever disappointed a public, deceived his friends, or injured his enemy”.

Connections

Couldock married Louisa Smith while still in England, and they remained married until her death in 1877. Their daughter Eliza was an actress who died in Salt Lake City at age 27.

Spouse:

Louisa Smith

Daughter:

Eliza Couldock

References

• Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts)