Background
He was born on May 7, 1816 in Marlboro, Massachussets, United States, the son of Nicholson Broughton and Lucy (Bond) Proctor.
He was born on May 7, 1816 in Marlboro, Massachussets, United States, the son of Nicholson Broughton and Lucy (Bond) Proctor.
He was educated in the schools in Marlboro (his native town).
His first appearance was made in Boston at the Warren (afterward the National) Theatre, on November 29, 1833, as Damon to the Pythias of Edmon S. Conner. Other performances in Boston and elsewhere followed quickly, and they gave him the necessary experience and training essential to the acting of the robustious characters that he made his specialty during more than sixty years of active life on the stage.
In 1837 he was acting leading roles in Philadelphia, and as early as May 6, 1839, he is recorded as playing, at the Bowery Theatre in New York, the principal character in Nick of the Woods, or the Renegade's Daughter, a play with which his name was so continuously associated as to create the impression that he never acted any other characters of any consequence.
From time to time he acted in association with Edwin Forrest, Junius Brutus Booth, Edward L. Davenport and other stars. In 1859 he went to Europe, traveling and remaining there for about two years.
Proctor ventured into the management of various theatres, and in the fall of 1861, soon after his return from Europe, he made a starring tour of the country under the direction of Edward L. Davenport. At the Boston Theatre, on November 30, 1883, a testimonial performance of scenes from various plays was given in honor of his completion of fifty years on the stage, he himself appearing as Damon, the part he had acted at the Warren Theatre on November 29, 1833.
About nine years before his death, advancing age compelled his retirement, although he acted at occasional benefits, perhaps the most notable being a performance in April 1890, at the Globe Theatre in Boston, where he acted Macbeth to the Lady Macbeth of Mrs. Edward L. Davenport, this being their last professional appearance. For several years he found both pleasure and profit in serving as professional instructor to ambitious young aspirants for the stage, maintaining a school in Boston for that purpose.
Proctor died in Boston on October 2, 1897
Joseph Proctor was best known for playing the lead role in the melodrama Nick of the Woods. He acted sucessfully for one hundred nights in London, and he gave many performances in other cities of the United Kingdom, including Glasgow, where he played Macbeth to the Macduff, Othello to the Cassio, and Richelieu to the De Mauprat of Henry Irving.
In appearance, Proctor was tall and of imposing figure, with a sonorous voice. He could assume a stern and forbidding aspect that served him well in the interpretation of the passions of hate and revenge that dominated many of his most successful and popular characters.
His first wife, to whom he was married in 1835, was Hester Warren, daughter of William Warren the elder, and sister of William Warren of Boston Museum fame. At the time of her marriage to Proctor she was a widow, Mrs. Willis, and when she died in Boston, December 7, 1841, at the early age of thirty-one, she had gained considerable distinction on the stage.
For his second wife he married, in February 1851, Elizabeth Wakeman, a young actress who remained on the stage in his support for many years, and who died in 1911. Their daughter, Anna E. Proctor, also accompanied her father on his tours and after his death continued to act until failing health compelled her retirement.
