Julia Neilson

(1868-1957) Born in London, Julia Neilson spent her early years studying in Germany before enrolling in the Royal Academy of Music and earning prize after prize for her singing abilities. On March 21, 1888, she made her first stage appearance at the Lyceum Theatre in W.S. Gilbert’s Pygmalion and Galatea in the role of Cynisca. A few months later, she moved up to the lead role of Galatea opposite Lewis Waller. Soon, she began performing and touring with Beerbohm Tree,Read more

William Haviland

(1860-1917) William Haviland began his long association with Shakespeare in 1882 when he joined the company of Sir Henry Irving; until he left Irving in 1895, he performed a number of parts, major and minor, in the thirteen years he played and toured with Irving. After a tour in South Africa, he joined Johnston Forbes-Robertson and then Martin Harvey for his sixth tour of America in 1902. In 1903 he joined Beerbohm Tree’s company and remained with him until 1905;Read more

Clement Hamelin

(1893-1957) Some of these actors have simply disappeared from view. The only piece of information that Shakespeare & the Players could discover about Hamelin was that he was a character actor in films; even the date of his birth was difficult to track down.Read more

Doris Keane

(1881-1945) Miss Keane was born in Michigan and moved to London in 1907 to continue her career. She acted a part in Shakespeare only once: she played Juliet in 1919 at the Lyric Theatre in London. The production was a good one with Dame Ellen Terry as the Nurse and Basil Sydney as Romeo; the play had a run of seventy-three performances, but Miss Keane had no need to depend on Shakespeare for a living and several smash hits kept herRead more

Marie Lohr

(1890-1975) Lohr was four years old when she first appeared on stage in her birthplace of Sydney, Australia. Her family moved to England, and she played at the Garrick Theatre in 1901 when she was eleven. Lohr married Anthony Leyland Val Prinsep and from 1918 to 1927, they co-managed the Globe Theatre in London. She was in dozens of stage performances in a long and busy career, including, between 1916 and 1968, fifty motion pictures. She played only one ShakespeareRead more

Courtice Pounds

(1862-1927) Charles Courtice Pounds began his career as a singer. Born in London, he studied music at various academies and institutions and his first stage appearance was in 1881 in the chorus of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. Not until 1901 at His Majesty’s Theatre did he play a part in Shakespeare, as Feste in Twelfth Night. That same year he played Touchstone at the Prince’s Theatre in Manchester; in 1902 he played in The Merry Wives of Windsor. His abilityRead more