George Vandenhoff

Background

George Vandenhoff was born on 18 February 1820, in Liverpool, England. He was the son of John Vandenhoff, a well-known actor. The family, a few generations back, had come to England from the Netherlands.

Education

Vandenhoff was educated at Stonyhurst College and later studied for the law.

Career

For a time Vandenhoff was solicitor to the trustees of the Liverpool docks. On October 14, 1839, he made his stage debut as Leon in Beaumont and Fletcher's Rule a Wife and Have a Wife at Covent Garden, where he also acted in new plays by Leigh Hunt and Sheridan Knowles, and as Mercutio in Madame Vestris' famous revival of Romeo and Juliet. In 1842, on September 21, he made his American debut at the Park Theatre, New York, as Hamlet, with Henry Placide as Polonius.

Of his Hamlet, Porter's Spirit of the Times, September 24, 1842, recorded, "Taken as a whole, the character has not been more ably performed in this city for the past six years. " Vandenhoff followed Hamlet with Virginius, Macbeth, Benedick, and Claude Melnotte, and then began a tour which included the chief cities of the East and took him as far south as New Orleans. At the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, he played Rolla to the Elvira of Charlotte Cushman; in Boston, where he acted for five weeks, he added Coriolanus and Hotspur to his list of roles. He acted in New Orleans in February 1843, visited Richmond, Baltimore, and Philadelphia once more, where he played Mercutio to Charlotte Cushman's Romeo.

In May, he was back at the Park, and then finished his season in Boston. He had made little money, but many friends, and decided to remain in America indefinitely. From 1843 to 1853, he lived in New York, acted frequently in most American cities, taught elocution, and gave many public readings of "Shakespeare, Sheridan and the Poets. " In October 1843 he was leading man for William C. Macready at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and he has left interesting records of that actor and his methods. At the Park, in 1844, he supported the elder Booth, and in 1846 he played Faulconbridge in the revival of King John made by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean. One of his most interesting ventures, however, was at Palmo's Opera House, New York, in the spring of 1845, where he staged an English version of Sophocles' Antigone, with Mendelssohn's music and an attempt to reproduce a Greek stage.

In January 1853, he returned to England, where he acted first in Liverpool in repertory.

On October 25, 1853, he reappeared in London, at the Haymarket, as Hamlet, highly praised by the leading papers. He made his great success, however, in what was for him a new style of part Captain Cozens in Planche's Knights of the Round Table, a racy adventure comedy which ran fifty-four nights. At the end of the season, he resolved to retire as soon as he could. He sailed for Boston. They acted jointly in the English provinces for a year, and then returned to the United States. Shortly thereafter Vandenhoff carried out his plan to retire. The truth seems to be that he never really cared for stage life. In 1858, he was admitted to the New York bar and resumed the practice of law, but continued his popular public readings. His interesting volume of reminiscences, Leaves from an Actor's Note Book, was published in 1860. He had already written (1858) a social satire in verse, and in 1861 published The Art of Elocution and Life, a poem. In 1874, he reappeared in support of Genevieve Ward as Wolsey and as Gloster in Jane Shore. This was his last stage appearance.

Vandenhoff died in Brighton, England, June 16, 1885.

Achievements

• George Vandenhoff has been listed as a notable actor, lawyer by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Common sense, a dash at doings of the day;

    (This reproduction was printed from a digital file created...)

  • The Art of Reading Aloud in Pulpit, Lecture Room: Or Private Reunions with a Perfect System of Economy ... Voice

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Lady's Reader: With Rules for a Good Style of Reading Aloud

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Leaves from an actor's note-book; with reminiscences and chit-chat of the green-room and the stage,

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • The Art of Elocution as an Essential Part of Rhetoric

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

Personality

Vandenhoff was tall, graceful, scholarly, and somewhat aloof. In his earlier years his acting was of the "new school" of ease and naturalness, but in later years he declared Irving to be "an intellectual machine with the pronunciation and gait of a barbarian. "

Junius Booth, he praised highly, but Lawrence Barrett and John McCullough he considered to have all the faults of the conventional "tragedian. " His own book shows him a man of breeding, taste, and good sense.

Connections

On August 20, 1855, was married in Trinity Church to Mary MaKeath, an American actress.

Father:

John Vandenhoff

Wife:

Mary MaKeath