Background
William Florence Owen was of English and Welsh ancestry on his father's side and of Irish on his mother's. He was born in 1844 in Limerick, Ireland.
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William Florence Owen
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After various attempts as a newspaper writer, in business, and as a public reader in Canada, whither William had gone at about the age of twenty, he at last fulfilled a boyish ambition to become an actor, and remained upon the stage for the rest of his life. He frequently remarked to his friends that it was a decision he never regretted, even when his fortunes were not at the highest flood. His first professional engagement was at Salem, Ohio, December 17, 1867, with Catherine Hayes, as Victor Carrington in Watts Phillips' melodrama, Nobody's Daughter, and as Sir Matthew Scraggs in Sketches in India. An engagement in stock during the next season at Griswold's Opera House in Troy, New York, gave him opportunity to appear in support of several stars in such parts as Sir Hugh Evans in Merry Wives of Windsor, Old Deschapelles in The Lady of Lyons, Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, and the Second Gravedigger in Hamlet. Seasons of miscellaneous engagements here and there in all sorts of characters followed, including appearances with Adelaide Neilson as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, with Joseph Jefferson as Cockles in Rip Van Winkle, and with George Rignold as Pistol in King Henry V.
During the season of 1885-86 Owen was leading comedian at the Boston Museum while George W. Wilson, the regular occupant of that position, was temporarily on tour with Booth and Salvini. For several seasons he was leading comedian with Madame Modjeska, playing Touchstone, Sir Toby Belch, Cloten in Cymbeline, Michonnet in Adrienne Lecouvreur, and Brigard in Frou Frou. He also supported Marie Wainwright in the fall of 1889, and Julia Marlowe in 1895-96. Of his impersonation of Falstaff in the latter's production of King Henry IV it was said that "it seems as if the whole of the witty knight's soul was given by the actor. " Owen was a member of Augustin Daly's company during a part of the nineties, appearing in comedy roles in support of Ada Rehan, and when in 1899-1900 Mrs. Fiske produced Langdon Elwyn Mitchell's dramatic version of Vanity Fair under the title of Becky Sharp, he appeared as Joseph Sedley. He repeated the part upon her revival of that play only a short time before his death, being forced to retire from the stage on account of serious illness.
Achievements
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William Owen played many roles, including: Victor Carrington in Nobody's Daughter; Sir Matthew Scraggs in Sketches in India; Sir Hugh Evans in Merry Wives of Windsor; Old Deschapelles in The Lady of Lyons; Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice; the Second Gravedigger in Hamlet; Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night; Cockles in Rip Van Winkle, etc.
Views
Quotations: More than once William Owen said, in substantially the same words: "To be an actor one must be so filled with love for the work that one must be willing to starve, to suffer, to endure almost anything rather than to give up his profession. "
Personality
In figure William Owen was rotund of body, his features were of comic cast, in manner he was a comedian of the unctuous type, a genuine Sir Toby Belch, an admirable Falstaff, a perfect Touchstone. He was in all respects an actor and not a clown, his resources being in his mind and in his voice, and not the result of either vocal or physical antics.
