John Edward McCullough (November 2, 1832 – November 8, 1885) was anIrish-born Americanactor.[1][2]
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John Edward McCullough was born inColeraine,Ireland. He went to America at the age of 16, and made his first appearance on the stage at theArch Street Theatre,Philadelphia, in 1857. In support ofEdwin Forrest andEdwin Booth he played second roles inShakespearean and other tragedies, and Forrest left him by will all his prompt books.Virginius was his greatest success, although even in this part and asOthello he was coldly received inEngland (1881).[3] On the night of September 29, 1884, he broke down on stage atMcVicker's Theater in Chicago and was unable to recite his lines. The audience, thinking he was drunk, hissed and booed.
In fact, McCullough was suffering from the early stages ofgeneral paresis. He was later committed to theBloomingdale Insane Asylum but continued to decline and finally died on November 8, 1885, in anasylum in Philadelphia.[3] His "insane ravings" became popular and were imitated in one of the first audio recordings.[4]
He is interred atMount Moriah Cemetery.[5]
On March 18, 1865, less than a month before he assassinated PresidentAbraham Lincoln,John Wilkes Booth appeared atFord's Theatre, Washington, in the playThe Apostate which was performed as abenefit for John McCullough.[6]
McCullough came West in 1866 with his mentor Edwin Forrest where he grew as an actor through practice before audiences inSacramento andVirginia City. The most celebrated roles of McCullough's career,King Lear,Virginius, andRichelieu were first performed beforeVirginia City audiences.[7]
In 1869, in partnership withLawrence Barrett, McCullough built theCalifornia Theatre on Bush Street in San Francisco. It boomed during economic prosperity becoming one of the best regarded theaters West of the Rocky Mountains. Selling out his interest in 1877, McCullough created a combination company that toured America. He was known for an intelligent, but not intellectual Hamlet and had an average Joe quality in performance which tied him to the West's working classes.[8]
McCullough died in 1885, six days after his 53rd birthday. Edwin Booth reportedly declined to contribute to the fund for McCullough's elaborate granite gravesite monument inPhiladelphia,[9] stating that greater actors than him, such as his own father and Edwin Forrest, had no similar monuments upon their graves.
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An apocryphal version of his death which arose as theatre lore is reported by theNational Theatre inWashington, D.C., where he appeared a number of times in various roles between 1875 and 1889 [incorrect date—he died in 1885]. According to this version of events, McCullough was murdered backstage by a fellow actor, was buried by members of the acting company in a cellar beneath the stage, and is a residentghost.[10]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "McCullough, John Edward".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 209.
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