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Arthur Bourchier (22 June 1863 – 14 September 1927) was an English actor andtheatre manager. He married and later divorced the actressViolet Vanbrugh.
Bourchier was noted for roles both in classical drama, particularlyShakespeare, and in contemporary plays, including works byW. S. Gilbert,Anthony Hope,Arthur Wing Pinero andAlfred Sutro. He managed severalWest End theatres during his career, including theRoyalty, theCriterion, theGarrick (for a total of eight years),His Majesty's and theStrand.
In his later years Bourchier became active in British politics as a member of theLabour Party.
Bourchier was born in Speen,Berkshire, England. He was the only son of Fanny (née Farr) and Captain Charles John Bourchier.[1] He was educated atEton, where he played cricket, and atOxford University, chiefly atChrist Church. At Oxford he acted with an amateur group called the Philothespian Society, with whom he played Shylock inThe Merchant of Venice. With the encouragement of theVice-Chancellor,Benjamin Jowett, Bourchier founded theOxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), which succeeded the Philothespians.[2] With the OUDS, Bourchier played Hotspur, Falstaff, Feste, Thanatos (inAlcestis), and Brutus to the Caesar ofH. B. Irving.[1][3]
Bourchier's first professional appearance was withLillie Langtry in 1889, as Jaques inAs You Like It. He also acted withCharles Wyndham at theCriterion Theatre and travelled to America to appear withAugustin Daly's company,[4] for whom he later played the part of Robin Hood inTennyson'sThe Foresters at its London premiere.[3] In 1893, he appeared together withViolet Vanbrugh, elder sister ofIrene Vanbrugh, in Daly's production ofLove in Tandem atDaly's Theatre in London. The two married the following year and had a daughter, Prudence Bourchier (b. 1902), who also became an actress and took the stage name Vanbrugh.[5]
In 1895, Bourchier became lessee of theRoyalty Theatre, and Violet Vanbrugh became his leading lady in many productions, includingThe Chili Widow (an adaptation of his own, which ran for over 300 nights),Mr and Mrs,Monsieur de Paris andThe Queen's Proctor. Bourchier, Vanbrugh and her sister Irene toured America beginning in 1897. Returning to England, Vanbrugh played the title role inTeresa, which he produced at the Metropole.[5]
In partnership withCharles Wyndham in 1900 at the Criterion, Bourchier producedHis Excellency the Governor,Lady Huntworth's Experiment,The Noble Lord, andMamma.[2] He became lessee of theGarrick Theatre in September 1900. Over the six years of his management at the Garrick, he produced many plays, often starring himself and Vanbrugh, includingThe Bishop's Move,My Lady Virtue,Whitewashing Julia,The Arm of the Law andW. S. Gilbert'sThe Fairy's Dilemma (1904).[6] Their production ofThe Walls of Jericho byAlfred Sutro, in 1904, ran for a very successful 423 performances.[5]
Bourchier and Vanbrugh appeared incommand performances beforeKing Edward VII in November 1902 inDr Johnson atSandringham withHenry Irving's company, and in November 1905 inThe Merchant of Venice atWindsor.[1] They toured in 1908 inJohn Glayde's Honour. In 1910, Bourchier joinedSir Herbert Beerbohm Tree atHis Majesty's Theatre and appeared in Shakespearian roles including Bottom inA Midsummer Night's Dream, Brutus inJulius Caesar, Sir Toby Belch inTwelfth Night and Ford to Tree's Falstaff inThe Merry Wives of Windsor.[3] He had a notable success as the title character inHenry VIII with Tree as Wolsey and Vanbrugh as Queen Katherine, followed by Tree's silent film of a shortened version of the play in February 1911.[7] In 1913, Bourchier and Vanbrugh produced their own movie in Germany of scenes fromMacbeth.[5]
Bourchier returned to manage the Garrick in 1912 for two years. In 1913, he appeared in a revival ofLondon Assurance in aid of King George's Actors' pension fund with other stars including Tree,Henry Ainley,Charles Hawtrey,Weedon Grossmith andMarie Tempest.[8] In 1916 he again played Brutus inJulius Caesar, at theTheatre Royal, Drury Lane, for the Shakespeare tercentenary withFrank Benson as Caesar, H. B. Irving as Cassius and Ainley as Antony.[9] The same year, Bourchier took over management of His Majesty's. In 1917, he created the part ofBruce Bairnsfather's "Old Bill" in a stage adaptation calledThe Better 'Ole at theOxford Music Hall, where it ran for over 800 performances.[2]
Bourchier and Vanbrugh continued to play in Shakespeare and other pieces throughWorld War I, but their marriage was becoming difficult. A contemporary later observed, "He treated her very much as Henry VIII treatedAnne Boleyn – except he didn't quite cut off her head."[10] They toured together in 1916 but then separated and finally divorced in 1918. Bourchier remarried a much younger actress, Violet Marion Kyrle Bellew in 1918,[5] with whom he continued to appear in contemporary melodramas.[11] Bourchier managed theStrand Theatre from 1919 to 1923. There, in 1922, he appeared as Long John Silver inJ. B. Fagan's adaptation ofTreasure Island. He toured with the play in 1923, and brought it back to the Strand the following year.[1] In1921 he appeared in theHugh Ford filmThe Great Day. He also playedIago in 1920.[11]
In his later years, Bourchier became involved in politics, writing a pamphlet for theIndependent Labour Party in 1926 on "Art and Culture in Relation to Socialism". At the time of his death he had been selected asLabour Party parliamentary candidate forGloucester.[1] At the subsequent election, his Labour Party successor failed by the narrow margin of 493 votes to defeat theConservative candidate.[12] In the last year of his life Bourchier embarked on a tour of South Africa. His departure was marked by a luncheon atClaridge's at which he was presented with a bronze bust of himself commissioned by old members of the OUDS in recognition of his work in founding and later subsidising the society.[13]
Bourchier became ill in South Africa and died of pneumonia inJohannesburg in 1927 at the age of 64.[3]
The Manchester Guardian wrote of Bourchier, "A certain coarseness, a certain bluff geniality and with it a certain slyness, were all part of his composition as a stage personality, [but] in spite of his great vitality it was not in violent or exuberant parts that he shone... his artistic merit was that he could always get his best effects very quietly."[14]The Times said, "Never a great actor, he was nevertheless always a conspicuous figure in the theatrical world. He brought to his work an enthusiasm for the stage which gave to performances not artistically distinguished a curious effect of personal distinction.... Sometimes his interpretations seemed to be misguided and his methods extravagantly theatrical, but here at least was an actor who was never colourless and, therefore, seldom dull."[3]
The criticC. E. Montague was quoted as saying of Bourchier's Macbeth, "Even murder cannot be as serious as all that."[15] Gilbert said of Bourchier's Hamlet, "At last we can settle whether Bacon or Shakespeare wrote the plays. Have the coffins opened and whichever has turned in his grave is the author."[16]
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1922)."Bourchier, Arthur".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 30 (12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. p. 486.
