Background
He was born William Hancock Kelly.
He was born William Hancock Kelly.
At age 19 in 1894, before his career took off, Courtenay appeared in Alexander Black"s slide show Mission Jerry. This was a sort of alternative entertainment to a new device by Thomas Edison called a Kinetoscope ala moving pictures. A tall, handsome leading man Courtenay appeared in plays with Richard Mansfield id est (that is) a revival of Beau Brummel and the American premiere of Cyrano de Bergerac as well as productions produced by Charles Frohman.
An early important Frohman production from 1902 was Oscar Wilde"s The Importance of Being Earnest his costars being Charles Richman, Margaret Anglin and Margaret Dale.
Foreign three years after 1902 he appeared as leading man in plays starring Virginia Harned the ex-wife of East. H. Sothern and seven years Courtenay"s senior. Virginia Harned largely retired from acting after one or two more plays to be Mistress
William Courtenay. She produced no children.
In 1913 he was chosen for the lead in Romance by Edward Sheldon and starring Doris Keane in the role of a lifetime. The lead role in this soon to be famous and very long running play made Courtenay more famous.
Keane and Courtenay performed the play over a thousand performances. William Courtenay died at Rye, New York on April 20, 1933.
His widow Virginia died in 1946.
They were childless.