Edwin Thomas Booth was a 19th-century American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays.
Background
Edwin Thomas Booth was born on November 13, 1833 in Bel Air, Maryland, into the English American theatrical Booth family. He was the illegitimate son of the famous actor, Junius Brutus Booth, an Englishman, who named Edwin after Edwin Forrest and Thomas Flynn, two of Junius' colleagues. He was the older brother of John Wilkes Booth, himself a successful actor who gained notoriety as the assassin of President Lincoln.
Education
Edwin Booth had little schooling.
Career
He accompanied his actor father, Junius Brutus Booth, on the theatrical circuits, ostensibly to attend him but really to control the elder genius's drinking and erratic behavior, a problem Edwin himself later had. Edwin first took up drama in 1849 and thereafter played minor roles, until in New York, in 1851, his father's illness (real or feigned) permitted him to substitute as Richard III. Edwin was an immediate success. Booth modestly continued his training in a variety of major and minor roles, first in California and later in the South.
Returning to New York in 1857, he was acclaimed for his brilliant and forceful portrayals of Richard III, Shylock, Romeo, and other Shakespearean characters. Booth surpassed the critical praise given to Edwin Forrest, who emerged from retirement in 1860 to challenge the young man. At 31 Booth was America's foremost actor. His wife's death, however, caused him deep sorrow that exaggerated his already melancholy nature. He left the stage saying, "The beauty of my art is gone-it is hateful to me. " But acting was so deeply a part of the man that by 1864 Booth was back as star and manager of the Winter Garden Theater in New York. It was there that the three Booth brothers-Edwin, Junius, and John Wilkes-gave their memorable performance of Julius Caesar. (This staged political assassination was soon to be followed by a real one. ) While Edwin was at the zenith of his fame, having acted Hamlet for more than a hundred consecutive nights, he heard of his brother John Wilkes's murder of President Lincoln. Once more he retired from the stage in sorrow. Assured that the public did not hold him responsible for his brother's action, Booth returned to acting in 1866 and was greeted by a tremendous and sympathetic ovation. At the Booth Theater in New York City he managed and acted in the most elaborate and artistic productions of Shakespeare America had ever known. Bankruptcy in 1873 made him renounce managership forever, and he thereafter concentrated on becoming what many critics insisted was the greatest actor of his time. His performances were sensitive, integrated in tone, gesture, and setting, and full of poetic power. He did not think of himself as an entertainer but as an artist who revealed the beauty and wisdom of great dramatic poetry. Booth had earlier made a gift of his home to the acting profession, and it was there, at the Players Club in New York City, that he died.
Achievements
Views
Quotations:
"When you are older you will understand how precious little things, seemingly of no value in themselves, can be loved and prized above all price when they convey the love and thoughtfulness of a good heart. "
"Homelessness is the actor's fate; physical incapacity to attain what is most required and desired by such a spirit as I am a slave to. "
"But Nature cast me for the part she found me best fitted for, and I have had to play it, and must play it till the curtain falls. "
"A Christian is one who rejoices in the superiority of a rival. "
Connections
Booth was married to Mary Devlin from 1860 to 1863, the year of her death. They had one daughter, Edwina, born on December 9, 1861, in London. He later remarried, wedding his acting partner Mary McVicker in 1869, and became a widower again in 1881.