William Seymour was an American actor, stage director, and theatre manager.
Background
He was born on December 19, 1855 in New York City, New York, United States, the son of James Cunningham, who had changed his name to Seymour when he ran away from his home in Belfast, Ireland, to become an actor. He came to America in 1849 and acquired a high reputation as a comedian, his adopted name having since been retained by all members of his family. In the same year he married Lydia Eliza Griffiths of Philadelphia, who acted under the name of Mrs. Seymour for some thirty years thereafter.
In 1857 in New Orleans the infant William made his first appearance on the stage in his mother's arms. His first speaking part was on his seventh birthday in To Parents and Guardians; afterwards he appeared occasionally with visiting stars.
Education
He received an elementary education in the New Orleans schools.
Career
Returning to New York in 1865 with his mother (his father had died in 1864), he later was engaged at Booth's Theatre, being cast for the Player Queen in Hamlet and other roles. After two seasons there, he went to the Globe Theatre in Boston in the fall of 1871, and on April 2, 1872, he acted Francois in Richelieu with Edwin Forrest on that actor's last appearance on the stage.
Following engagements at the Union Square Theatre in New York, with Lawrence Barrett on tour, with John McCullough in San Francisco, and other actors, he joined the stock company at the Boston Museum in August 1879 where he remained for ten seasons, acting an occasional part such as the First Grave Digger in Hamlet.
In 1889, after brief engagements in New York and elsewhere, he became house manager of the newly opened Tremont Theatre in Boston, where he remained until 1897, when he went on tour with Sol Smith Russell. He was manager of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, in 1900-01, and in 1904 he joined the forces of Charles Frohman, remaining with him for years as general stage director, actor, and historian.
During his later years he lived in semi-retirement at South Duxbury, Massachussets, where he had long maintained a summer home, going thence frequently to Boston and New York to engage temporarily in such activities as a tour with George Arliss as actor and stage director.
He died after a brief illness at the Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, Massachussets.
Achievements
William Seymour has been listed as a notable actor, stage manager by Marquis Who's Who.
Personality
He was of short stature and portly figure, a genial companion whose conversation was delightful and whose devotion to his family was one among his many admirable traits.
Connections
On January 8, 1882, he married May Davenport, daughter of Edward Loomis Davenport and younger sister of Fanny Lily Gypsy Davenport. She had a brief career as an actress in the Boston Museum Stock Company and elsewhere, and died suddenly in New York in 1927. Of their five children only one permanently adopted the family profession.
