Background
Thomas Abthorpe Cooper was born on December 16, 1776 at London, England. He was the son of Thomas Cooper, a prominent physician of Irish descent, and of his wife Mary Grace Cooper.
Thomas Abthorpe Cooper was born on December 16, 1776 at London, England. He was the son of Thomas Cooper, a prominent physician of Irish descent, and of his wife Mary Grace Cooper.
Thomas received “an excellent English education at a principal seminary”. When Dr. Cooper died in 1787, leaving his family destitute, William Godwin, whose mother was Mrs. Cooper’s first cousin, assumed the care and education of Thomas.
At sixteen Thomas resolved to be an actor. Godwin, approving this choice, sought the advice of his friend Thomas Holcroft, and on the latter’s recommendation Cooper approached Stephen Kemble, then at Edinburgh. After being sent on in very minor parts, he essayed Malcolm in Macbeth, in which role he distinguished himself by forgetting the last speech of the play. He was summarily dismissed.
For about three years he played with various provincial companies, and was then taken in hand by Holcroft, who carefully coached him and secured for him an opportunity to appear at Covent Garden as Hamlet in October 1795. The critics warmly praised his efforts, but the manager offered him an engagement for secondary characters only, which he indignantly refused. In 1796 Thomas Wignell, the Philadelphia director, engaged him for three years. Cooper made his American debut on November 11, 1796, at Baltimore, where the company was temporarily stationed. He first faced a Philadelphia audience, December 9, as Macbeth and was favorably received. Relations with Wignell becoming strained, largely because Fennell was given more important roles than himself, Cooper broke his contract and, after some legal complications, went over to the New York theatre in February 1798. Here he was at once recognized as the unrivaled tragic actor of America, despite a faulty memory and careless study, which sometimes caused him to appear at a disadvantage.
After a temporary return to Philadelphia he was back in New York in 1801. From this time on, Cooper was a star —one of the first in this country—rather than a regular stock actor. His career was an important step in the evolution from the stock to the starring system. When John Kemble retired from Drury Lane, Cooper was secured to succeed him.
He made his first appearance March 7, 1803, but he failed to attract well-filled houses and was soon released. His return to the Park Theatre, New York, in November 1804, was rapturously welcomed. After spending the season of 1805-1806 largely at Boston, he became lessee of the Park Theatre. In the fall of 1808 he sold a share of his interests to Stephen Price, and, being thus partially relieved of managerial duties, contracted to play half of each week at Philadelphia, the other half to be devoted to New York. Driving his own fast horses, he was able, by a relay arrangement, to leave one town after the evening performance and be in the other in time for morning rehearsal.
In June 1810 he again sailed for England, where he acted with success in some of the provincial towns, and engaged the celebrated George Frederick Cooke for a series of appearances in America, a project which proved extremely profitable to the New York managers. About 1815 he withdrew from the management of the Park and gave himself entirely to starring engagements. Again, in 1827, he appeared at Drury Lane, but was received with discourtesy, perhaps because of prejudice against American talent, and he refused to play a second night. By degrees enthusiasm for Cooper in the United States waned as younger actors arose and his own powers declined through advancing years and, it may be, a too great fondness for stimulants. His once large fortune having been dissipated by extravagant living, and the receipts from his profession having sadly shrunk, friends came to his aid by arranging, in 1833-1834, a series of notably successful benefits in several cities to provide a fund for the support of his family. In 1834 Cooper brought his daughter Priscilla before the public, but her stage career was cut short by her marriage to Robert Tyler, son of John Tyler, later president of the United States.
Cooper last appeared on the New York stage on November 24, 1835, at Hamblin’s benefit; his retirement front the theatre is thought to have occurred in 1838. During his final years he held several government posts, which he secured through the patronage of President Tyler, among them an inspectorship in the New York Custom House. He died at Bristol, Pennsylvania, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Tyler, after an illness of four months.
Quotes from others about the person
“I still think his Macbeth was only inferior to Garrick’s, and his Hamlet to Kemble’s; while his Othello, I think, was equal to Barry’s itself”.
Cooper’s first wife was formerly Mrs. Joanna Johnson Upton, who died in 1808. On June 11, 1812, he was married to Mary Fairlie, daughter of Major James Fairlie. She was said to be the most brilliant and beautiful belle of New York. He had six daughters and one son of his second wife.