Background
John Drew was born on September 3, 1827, in Dublin, Ireland. His father, an artisan, emigrated to Buffalo, New York.
John Drew was born on September 3, 1827, in Dublin, Ireland. His father, an artisan, emigrated to Buffalo, New York.
Young Drew went to sea and left his ship in Liverpool and sought employment on the stage. His first American appearance seems to have been at the Richmond Hill Theatre, New York, in 1842. In 1845 he played O'Toole in The Irish Tutor at the Bowery Theatre, and there began his career as an actor of Irish roles. The following year he went to the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and in 1853, with William Wheatley, he leased the Arch Street Theatre in that city. In the company with him here was his brother Frank, and they used to play the two Dromios, made up so exactly alike that the audience would frequently lay bets on which was which, and even the other actors could not tell them apart. In 1859 Drew made a tour to Australia, returning through England, and going back to Philadelphia where his wife was wrestling with the financial problems of the Arch Street Theatre, of which she had assumed the sole management. Drew's popularity as an actor was of much assistance, though for but a brief season. On May 9, 1862, he made his last appearance, in New York. He died in Philadelphia.
John Drew was a man of short, rather slender figure, with a plain but jovial face, and he early in life became noted for his impersonations in the Irish plays which were extremely popular in America during the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century, as well as for comedy parts in such plays as The Road to Ruin and London Assurance.
Quotes from others about the person
"Had he lived to be forty-five, he would have been a great actor, but too early a success was his ruin. .. . Why should he study when he was assured on all sides (except my own) that he was as near perfection as was possible for man to be?" - Louisa (Lane) Drew
"I think it has been generally conceded that since Tyrone Power there has been no Irish comedian equal to John Drew. " - Joseph Jefferson
Drew's wife was Louisa Lane Drew. He married her in 1850, and they had three children, John, Georgiana, and Louisa (Mrs. Charles Mendum).