Henry Irving | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Irving in 1878 | |
| Born | John Brodribb[a] (1838-02-06)6 February 1838 Keinton Mandeville, Somerset, England |
| Died | 13 October 1905(1905-10-13) (aged 67) Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Resting place | Westminster Abbey |
| Other names | J. H. Irving |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1856–1905 |
| Spouse | Florence O'Callaghan |
| Children | Harry Brodribb Irving Laurence Irving |
| Signature | |
 | |
Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christenedJohn Henry Brodribb, sometimes known asJ. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in theVictorian era. Known as anactor-manager, he took complete responsibility (supervision of sets, lighting, direction, casting, as well as playing the leading roles) for season after season at theWest End'sLyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. In 1895 he became the first actor to be awarded aknighthood.[1]
Describing Irving as having a "dark, imperious nature",The Times literary criticJohn Carey said that Irving andEllen Terry (who joined Irving's company as his leading lady) were celebrities and national figureheads who transformed British theatre, writing, "Under Irving's management, the Lyceum Theatre brought culture to the masses. It was unstuffy, lavish and daring.Shakespeare's plays were put on in tandem with blood-and-thunder melodramas and their texts were ruthlessly cut."[1] Irving is also widely acknowledged as being an inspiration forCount Dracula, the title character of the 1897 novelDracula whose author,Bram Stoker, worked for Irving as business manager of the Lyceum Theatre.[2]
Irving was born to aworking-class family inKeinton Mandeville inSomerset.[3]W.H. Davies, the poet, was a cousin. Irving spent his childhood living with his aunt, Mrs Penberthy, atHalsetown inCornwall. He competed in a recitation contest at a localMethodist chapel where he was beaten byWilliam Curnow, later the editor ofThe Sydney Morning Herald.[4] He attended City Commercial School for two years before going to work in the office of a law firm at age 13. When he sawSamuel Phelps playHamlet soon after this, he sought lessons, letters of introduction, and work in the Lyceum Theatre inSunderland in 1856, labouring against great odds until his 1871 success inThe Bells inLondon set him apart from all the rest.
He married Florence O'Callaghan on 15 July 1869 at St. Marylebone, London, but his personal life took second place to his professional life. On the opening night ofThe Bells, 25 November 1871, Florence, who was pregnant with their second child, criticised his profession: "Are you going on making a fool of yourself like this all your life?" Irving exited their carriage atHyde Park Corner, walked off into the night, and chose never to see her again. He maintained a discreet distance from his children as well but became closer to them as they grew older. Florence Irving never divorced Irving, and once he had been knighted she styled herself "Lady Irving"; Irving never remarried.[5]
His elder son,Harry Brodribb Irving (1870–1919), usually known as "H B Irving", became a famous actor and later a theatre manager. His younger son,Laurence Irving (1871–1914), became adramatist and later drowned, with his wifeMabel Hackney, in the sinking of theEmpress of Ireland. H B marriedDorothea Baird and they had a son,Laurence Irving (1897–1988), who became a well-knownHollywood art director and his grandfather's biographer, and a daughter,Elizabeth Irving (1904 – 2003) an actress and the founder of Keep Britain Tidy.
In November 1882 Irving became aFreemason, being initiated into the prestigious Jerusalem Lodge No 197 in London.[6] In 1887 he became a founder member and first Treasurer of the Savage Club Lodge No 2190,[7] a Lodge associated with London'sSavage Club.
He eventually took over the management of the Lyceum Theatre and brought actressEllen Terry into partnership with him asOphelia to his Hamlet,Lady Macbeth to hisMacbeth,Portia to hisShylock, Beatrice to his Benedick, etc. Before joining the Lyceum, Terry had fled her first marriage and conceived two out-of-wedlock children with architect-designerEdward William Godwin, but regardless of how much and how often her behavior defied the strict morality expected by her Victorian audiences, she somehow remained popular. It could be said that Irving found his family in his professional company, which included his ardent supporter and managerBram Stoker and Terry's two illegitimate children,Teddy andEdy.
Whether Irving's long, spectacularly successful relationship with leading lady Ellen Terry was romantic as well as professional has been the subject of much historical speculation.[1] Most of their correspondence was lost or burned by her descendants.[8] According toMichael Holroyd's book about Irving and Terry,A Strange Eventful History:
Years later, when Irving was dead, Marguerite Steen asked Ellen whether she had been Irving's lover, and she promptly answered: 'Of course I was. We were terribly in love for a while.' But at earlier periods in her life, when there were more people around to be offended, she said contradictory things.
Terry's son Teddy, later known asEdward Gordon Craig, spent much of his childhood (from 1879, when he was 8, until 1897) indulged by Irving backstage at the Lyceum. Craig, who came to be regarded as something of a visionary for the theatre of the future, wrote an especially vivid, book-length tribute to Irving. ("Let me state at once, in clearest unmistakable terms, that I have never known of, or seen, or heard, a greater actor than was Irving.")George Bernard Shaw, at the time a theatre critic who was jealous of Irving's connection to Ellen Terry (whom Shaw himself wanted in his plays), conceded Irving's genius after Irving died.
After a few years' schooling, while living at Halsetown, nearSt Ives, Cornwall, Irving became a clerk to a firm ofEast India merchants in London, but he soon gave up a commercial career for acting. On 29 September 1856, he made his first appearance at Sunderland as Gaston, Duke of Orleans, inBulwer Lytton's play,Richelieu, billed as Henry Irving. This name he eventually assumed by royal licence.[9] When the inexperienced Irving got stage fright and was hissed off the stage the actorSamuel Johnson was among those who supported him with practical advice. Later in life, Irving gave them all regular work when he formed his own Company at theLyceum Theatre.[10]
For 10 years, he went through arduous training in variousstock companies inScotland and the north of England, taking more than 500 parts.
his delineations of the various characters (...) were admirably graphic, and met with repeated rounds of applause. Possessed of a fine voice, which he modulated with great taste and judgment, he was able to mark the depth or frivolity of the character he was representing with remarkable facility.[11]
He gained recognition by degrees, and in 1866Ruth Herbert engaged him as her leading man and sometime stage director at theSt. James's Theatre, London, where she first played Doricourt inThe Belle's Stratagem. One piece that he directed there wasW. S. Gilbert's first successful solo play,Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack (1866)[12] The next year he joined the company of the newly opened Queen's Theatre, where he acted withCharles Wyndham,J. L. Toole, Lionel Brough,John Clayton, Mr. and Mrs.Alfred Wigan,Ellen Terry andNellie Farren. This was followed by short engagements at theHaymarket Theatre, Drury Lane, and theGaiety Theatre.[9] In the spring of 1869, Irving was one of the original twelve members ofThe Lambs of London—assembled byJohn Hare as a social club for actors[13]: 20 —and would be made an Honorary Lifetime member in 1883.[14] He finally made his first conspicuous success as Digby Grant inJames Albery'sTwo Roses, which was produced at theVaudeville Theatre on 4 June 1870 and ran for a very successful 300 nights.[9]
In 1871, Irving began his association with theLyceum Theatre by an engagement under Bateman's management. The fortunes of the house were at a low ebb when the tide was turned by Irving's sudden success as Mathias inThe Bells, a version ofErckmann-Chatrian'sLe Juif polonais byLeopold Lewis, a property that Irving had found for himself. The play ran for 150 nights,[9] established Irving at the forefront of the British drama, and would prove a popular vehicle for Irving for the rest of his professional life.[1]
With Bateman, Irving was seen inW. G. Wills'Charles I andEugene Aram, inRichelieu, and 1874 inHamlet. The unconventionality of this last performance, during a run of 200 nights, aroused keen discussion and singled him out as the most interesting English actor of his day. In 1875, again with Bateman, he was seen as the title character inMacbeth; in 1876 asOthello, and as Philip inAlfred Tennyson'sQueen Mary; in 1877 inRichard III; andThe Lyons Mail.[9] During this time he became lifelong friends with Bram Stoker, who praised him in his review ofHamlet and thereafter joined Irving as the manager of the company.[15]
In 1878, Irving entered into a partnership with actressEllen Terry and re-opened the Lyceum under his management. With Terry as Ophelia and Portia, he revivedHamlet and producedThe Merchant of Venice (1879). HisShylock was as much discussed as his Hamlet had been, the dignity with which he invested the vengefulJewish merchant marking a departure from the traditional interpretation of the role.[9]
After the production of Tennyson'sThe Cup and revivals ofOthello (in which Irving playedIago toEdwin Booth's title character) andRomeo and Juliet, there began a period at the Lyceum which had a potent effect on the English stage.[9]
Much Ado About Nothing (1882) was followed byTwelfth Night (1884); an adaptation ofGoldsmith'sVicar of Wakefield by W. G. Wills (1885);Faust (1885);Macbeth (1888, withincidental music byArthur Sullivan[16]);The Dead Heart, by Watts Phillips (1889);Ravenswood by Herman, and Merivales' dramatic version ofScott'sBride of Lammermoor (1890). Portrayals in 1892 of the characters ofWolsey inHenry VIII and of the title character inKing Lear were followed in 1893 by a performance ofBecket inTennyson'splay of the same name. The Lyceum productions were described as "magnificent spectacles" by John Carey.[1]
During these years, too, Irving, with the whole Lyceum company, paid several successful visits to the United States and Canada,[17] which were repeated in succeeding years.[9] In bringing the Lyceum productions overseas, John Carey wrote that Irving and Terry "were ambassadors" for London theatre, who brought "the riches of the world's cultural capital to the benighted provinces."[1] As Terry aged, there seemed to be fewer opportunities for her in his company; that was one reason she eventually left, moving on to less steady but beloved stage work, including solo performances of Shakespeare's women.
In 1887, theExeter Theatre Royal fire claimed the lives of 186 people, injuring dozens more, during a performance ofThe Romany Rye being staged by fellow actor-managerWilson Barrett at theTheatre Royal, Exeter.
Irving was one of the first high-profile people to donate to the relief fund for survivors and orphans, sending £100.[18]
The fire caused Irving to become involved in ensuring better safety for theatres, and he developed the "Irving Safety Theatre" principles, working with eminent architectAlfred Darbyshire. These principles included making the theatre site isolated, dividing the auditorium from the back of the house, a minimum height above street level for any part of the audience, providing two separate exits for every section of the audience, improving stage construction including a smoke flue, and fire-resistant construction throughout.[19]
From 1878,Bram Stoker worked for Irving as a business manager at the Lyceum. Stoker idolised Irving to the point that "As one contemporary remarked, 'To Bram, Irving is as a god, and can do no wrong.' In the considered judgment of one biographer, Stoker's friendship with Irving was 'the most important love relationship of his adult life.'"[2] Irving, however, "… was a self-absorbed and profoundly manipulative man. He enjoyed cultivating rivalries between his followers, and to remain in his circle required constant, careful courting of his notoriously fickle affections."[2] When Stoker began writingDracula, Irving was the chief inspiration for thetitle character.[2] In his 2002 paper forThe American Historical Review, "Buffalo Bill Meets Dracula: William F. Cody, Bram Stoker, and the Frontiers of Racial Decay",[2] historianLouis S. Warren writes:
Scholars have long agreed that keys to the Dracula tale's origin and meaning lie in the manager's relationship with Irving in the 1880s. … There is virtual unanimity on the point that the figure of Dracula—which Stoker began to write notes for in 1890—was inspired by Henry Irving himself. … Stoker's numerous descriptions of Irving correspond so closely to his rendering of the fictional count that contemporaries commented on the resemblance. … But Bram Stoker also internalized the fear and animosity his employer inspired in him, making them the foundations of his gothic fiction.
The chief remaining novelties at the Lyceum during Irving's term as sole manager (at the beginning of 1899 the theatre passed into the hands of a limited-liability company) wereArthur Conan Doyle'sWaterloo (1894);[20]J. Comyns Carr'sKing Arthur in 1895;Cymbeline, in which Irving played Iachimo, in 1896;Sardou'sMadame Sans-Gene in 1897; andPeter the Great, a play by Laurence Irving, the actor's second son, in 1898.[9]
Irving received a death threat in 1899 from fellow actor (and murderer ofWilliam Terriss)Richard Archer Prince. Terriss had been stabbed at the stage door of theAdelphi Theatre in December 1897 and in the wake of his death, Prince was committed toBroadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Irving was critical of the unusually lenient sentence, remarking "Terriss was an actor, so his murderer will not be executed." Two years later, Prince had found Irving's home address and threatened to murder him "when he gets out". Irving was advised to submit the letter to the Home Office to ensure Prince's continued incarceration, which Irving declined to do.[21]
In 1898 Irving wasRede Lecturer at theUniversity of Cambridge.[22] The new regime at the Lyceum was signalled by the production of Sardou'sRobespierre in 1899, in which Irving reappeared after a serious illness, and in 1901 by an elaborate revival ofCoriolanus. Irving's only subsequent production in London was as Sardou'sDante (1903) at the Drury Lane.[9]
On 13 October 1905, at 67 years old, Irving had completed a performance and suffered astroke after returning to his lodging at the lobby of theMidland Hotel, Bradford, where he died before medical attention could arrive.[23][24] A more dramatic, but untrue story, would later be written byThomas Anstey Guthrie in his 'Long Retrospect': "Within three months, on 13 October 1905, Henry Irving, when appearing as Becket at the Bradford Theatre, was seized with syncope just after uttering Becket's dying words 'Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands', and though he lived for an hour or so longer he never spoke again." (Thomas Anstey Guthrie. "Long Retrospect")
Another witness at the play,Bram Stoker told reporters later that "We chatted for awhile after the play, and I left him, although not notably strong, not in any way cast down and not more exhausted than had been usual for some time. A little more than three-quarters of an hour afterward I was sent for by the man who attended Sir Henry from the theatre, who told me that he had fainted or collapsed on entering the Midland Hotel. Hurrying down, I found Sir Henry lying in the passage— dead." Stoker added, "Had he died on the stage, as might have happened, it would have given the shock and bitter memory to many tender hearts."[25] Guthrie's confusion may have come from the fact that the character Becket's last words in the play are "O Lord, into thy hands," but, as a correspondent noted, "Then the curtain falls, and within a very short time, having just reached his hotel, the great actor breathed his last."[26]
The chair that he was sitting in before he died is now at theGarrick Club. He was cremated and his ashes buried inWestminster Abbey, thereby becoming the first person to be cremated before interment at Westminster.[27]
There is a statue of him near theNational Portrait Gallery in London. That statue, as well as the influence of Irving himself, plays an important part in theRobertson Davies novelWorld of Wonders. The Irving Memorial Garden was opened on 19 July 1951 byLaurence Olivier.[28]
"Irving's achievement as an educative force in British society was colossal. He transformed the social standing of the theatre, and was the first actor to receive a knighthood. When he died in 1905, it was rightly said that he had dignified the nation."
Both on and off the stage, Irving always maintained a high ideal of his profession, and in 1895 he received aknighthood (first offered in 1883), the first ever accorded an actor.[29] He was also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities ofDublin (LL.D 1892),Cambridge (Litt.D 1898), andGlasgow (LL.D 1899).[9] He also received the Komthur Cross, 2nd class, of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order ofSaxe-Coburg-Gotha andSaxe-Meiningen.[3]
His acting divided critics; opinions differed as to the extent to which his mannerisms of voice and deportment interfered with or assisted the expression of his ideas.[9] Irving's idiosyncratic style of acting and its effect on amateur players were mildly satirised inThe Diary of a Nobody. Mr. Pooter's son brings Mr. Burwin-Fosselton of the Holloway Comedians to supper, a young man who entirely monopolised the conversation, and:
"...who not only looked rather like Mr Irving but seemed to imagine hewas the celebrated actor... he began doing the Irving business all through supper. He sank so low down in his chair that his chin was almost on a level with the table, and twice he kicked Carrie under the table, upset his wine, and flashed a knife uncomfortably near Gowing's face."[30]
InT. S. Eliot's poem, "Gus: The Theatre Cat" (c. 1939), the title character's old age and theatrical distinction are expressed in the couplet:
For he once was a Star of the highest degree--
He has acted with Irving, he's acted withTree.
These verses appear in the lyrics of the homonymous song inAndrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musicalCats.
In the 1963 West End musical comedyHalf a Sixpence the actor Chitterlow does an impression of Irving inThe Bells.Percy French's burlesque heroic poem "Abdul Abulbul Amir" lists among the mock-heroic attributes of Abdul's adversary, the Russian Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, that "he could imitate Irving". In the 1995 filmA Midwinter's Tale byKenneth Branagh, two actors discuss Irving, and one of them,Richard Briers does an imitation of his speech. In the playThe Woman in Black, set in the Victorian era, the actor playing Kipps tells Kipps 'We'll make an Irving of you yet,' in Act 1, as Kipps is not a very good actor due to his inexperience.[31] A 2025 play byDavid Hare,Grace Pervades, which starsRalph Fiennes as Irving andMiranda Raison as Ellen Terry, explores the life of Irving, Terry and Terry's children,Edith Craig andEdward Gordon Craig.[32][33]
In 1906,Bram Stoker published a two-volume biography about Irving calledPersonal Reminiscences of Henry Irving.[34]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Irving, Sir Henry".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 855–856.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
