Background
Edwin Adams was born on February 3, 1834 at Medford, Massachussets, United States.
Edwin Adams was born on February 3, 1834 at Medford, Massachussets, United States.
Adams adopted the stage career in 1853, making his first appearance at the National Theatre, Boston, on August 29 of that year, as Stephen in Sheridan Knowles's play The Hunchback. Two months later he appeared in the same city, at the Athenaeum, as Bernardo in Hamlet. The following year, on September 20, he acted the part of Charles Woodley in The Soldier's Daughter at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia.
But it was not until he was seen in Baltimore a few years later, when he scored a big hit, that he attracted any particular attention. His reputation now established, he became a star, making appearances in all the principal cities of the country. He was seen in Hamlet with Kate Bateman in 1860, and on February 3, 1869 he played Mercutio to Edwin Booth's Romeo at the inauguration of the new Booth Theatre, New York City. During the engagement at Booth's Theatre, he was seen in Narcisse, as Raphael in The Marble Heart, and as Iago to Booth's Othello. The following week he played the Moor to Booth's Iago. Later, he was seen as Rover in Wild Oats and as Claude in The Lady of Lyons, and for some time continued as leading man at Booth's, his repertory including all the chief roles in tragedy. On June 21 he was seen for the first time as Enoch Arden, in a dramatization of Tennyson's pathetic narrative poem. The play proved an enormous success and he appeared in it all over the United States.
Adams was the original in America of Ivan Khorvitch in Tom Taylor's drama The Serf, first performed at Philadelphia in September 1865, and he was also seen as Robert Landry in The Dead Heart. His last appearance as an actor was at the California Theatre, San Francisco, May 27, 1876, when he played Iago to the Othello of John E. McCullough.
In 1877, when he was overtaken by ill health and misfortune, a series of benefit performances was given for him at the Academy of Music, New York City, in which McCullough participated, and netted $10, 000.
His last appearance in public was at the California Theatre, February 12, 1877, when, at another benefit, he was unable to act himself but occupied a chair in the centre of the stage.
Quotes from others about the person
"The animation of his face, the grace of his person, and, above all, the melody of his voice well fitted him for the stage. While he could not fairly be called a great artist, he was something more highly prized--a born actor, a child of nature if not of art, swayed by warm impulse rather than by premeditation. His Enoch Arden, so far as the character is related to the stage, was a creation entirely his own, and one, too, that touched the sympathies of his audience. " - Joseph Jefferson
"Everybody loved Adams. Sothern (Edward A. Sothern) was devotedly attached to him. In his day he was one of the blithest spirits in all the bright world of the stage. " - William Winter
It is known that Adams was married, but there is no record of his family.