Huntley Wright
Encyclopedia
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies.
His career spanned more than half a century, beginning with performances in his family's touring theatre company. He then toured extensively in burlesque and other comedies and also appeared in London. In 1895, he toured in South Africa in a musical comedy, The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl was a musical comedy in two acts written by H. J. W. Dam, with Lyrics by Dam and Adrian Ross and music by Ivan Caryll, and additional numbers by Lionel Monckton and Ross. It was first produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre in London, opening on 24 November 1894...
. Beginning in 1896, he spent ten years creating roles in some of the era's most popular musical comedies for George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
. He continued playing in musicals in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
until World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when he served in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
. After this, he continued to play in comedies, musical theatre and drama, also broadcasting frequently on the radio and appearing in several films later in his career.
Wright's daughter, Betty Huntley-Wright
Betty Huntley-Wright
Betty Huntley-Wright was a British actress and vocalist. Daughter of the comic actor Huntley Wright, she had a long career on stage, chiefly in comedy and pantomime, and in film, radio and television...
, had a successful television and film career.
Early years
Born Walter Thomas Curtis Wright in London, he was one of five children of Frederick Wright, Sr. (1828–1911) and his wife Jessie, née Francis (born 1841), both actors and comedians. His brother, Fred Wright Jr. (1865–1928), was also a successful actor in musical comedy, and his sisters, Maria "Marie" Wright (born 1864) and Ada "HaideeHaidee Wright
Haidee Wright as Ada Wright was a London born English character actress. She began acting in plays in 1878 when a small child. Came from a family of actors. Had a long career in the UK and the US much Broadway work with occasional parts in films. Her parents and many siblings were actors...
" Wright (1867–1943), and brother, Albert "Bertie" Wright (born 1871), were all actors.
George Watson's College
George Watson's College, known informally as Watson's, is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871 and was merged with its sister school...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where he became a fine footballer at both forms of the game. He continued to play until his sporting injuries put his stage career at risk. He wished for a naval career, but his eyesight precluded it, and, despite his parents' disapproval, he pursued a career in the theatre.
Apart from an appearance as a baby in his mother's arms in a melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, his stage début was as a teenager in the role of Dr Winsley Andrewes in False Lights at the Royal Edinburgh Theatre with his family's touring theatre company, the Frederick Wright Dramatic Company. Ada Reeve
Ada Reeve
Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s....
performed as a child with this company and also performed with Wright in 1896 in Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dick Whittington and His Cat is an English folk tale that has often been used as the basis for stage pantomimes and other adaptations. It tells of a poor boy in the 14th century who becomes a wealthy merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London because of the ratting abilities of his cat...
in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. He performed under the name Walter Huntley before taking on his better-known stage name of Huntley Wright in 1889.
In 1887, aged 18, Wright appeared in The Artist's Model at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Theatre (London)
The Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
, London. After four more years playing a variety of roles on tour, including Danny Man in Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
's The Colleen Bawn
The Colleen Bawn
The Colleen Bawn, or The Brides of Garryowen is a melodramatic play written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. It was first performed at Miss Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, on 27 March 1860 with Laura Keene playing Anne Chute and Boucicault playing Myles na Coppaleen. It was most recently...
, he was again in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in 1891 as Springe the birdcatcher in Fate and Fortune. He toured for three years in his own burlesque, Dashing Prince Hal. In 1894, he had a short engagement at Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre
Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre on Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923.-History:...
, where he played in King Kodak, a topical burlesque, and The Foundling, a farce. He played Dr. Montague Brierly during part of the run of A Gaiety Girl
A Gaiety Girl
A Gaiety Girl is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall , Harry Greenbank and Sidney Jones . It opened at Prince of Wales Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes, on 14 October 1893 and ran for 413 performances. The show starred C...
at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
. He then went to South Africa with one of George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
's companies, playing Miggles in The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl
The Shop Girl was a musical comedy in two acts written by H. J. W. Dam, with Lyrics by Dam and Adrian Ross and music by Ivan Caryll, and additional numbers by Lionel Monckton and Ross. It was first produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre in London, opening on 24 November 1894...
.
Musical comedy comedian
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
in London. According to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, "it is on that 10 years' engagement at Daly's, from 1896 to 1905, that the memories of his many devoted admirers most fondly dwell." Wright performed and created characters in many of Edwardes's most famous musical comedies, including: The Geisha
The Geisha
The Geisha, a story of a tea house is an Edwardian Musical Comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and James Philip....
(1896, as Wun-Hi), A Greek Slave
A Greek Slave
A Greek Slave is a musical comedy in two acts, first performed on 8 June 1898 at Daly's Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes and ran for 349 performances. The score was composed by Sidney Jones with additional songs by Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross. The...
(1898, as Heliodorus), San Toy
San Toy
San Toy, or The Emperor's Own is a "Chinese" musical comedy in two acts, first performed at Daly's Theatre, London, on 21 October 1899, and ran for 768 performances...
(1899, as Li), A Country Girl
A Country Girl
A Country Girl, or, Town and Country is a musical play in two acts by James T. Tanner, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank, music by Lionel Monckton and additional songs by Paul Rubens....
(1902, as Barry), The Cingalee
The Cingalee
The Cingalee, or Sunny Ceylon is a musical play in two acts by James T. Tanner, with music by Lionel Monckton, lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank, and additional material by Paul Rubens. It opened at Daly's Theatre in London, managed by George Edwardes, on March 5, 1904 and ran until March...
(1904, as Chambhuddy Ram), The Little Michus (1905, as Bagnolet) and See-See (1906, as Hang-Kee). The Times also said of this period of his career, "those who remember the neat, perky, birdlike little man in these musical comedies, with his precise diction and his finished movements, will quote to each other his drolleries, and hug his memory in unashamed, selfish, and inexhaustible enjoyment."
In 1898, Wright married the actress Christine Monica Margaret Taylor in London. They separated in 1907 and were divorced in 1911. They had no children. In the same year, Wright married Mary Smith, known by her stage name of Mary Fraser, the sister of actress Agnes Fraser, wife of the Savoyard Walter Passmore
Walter Passmore
Walter Henry Passmore was an English singer and actor best known as the first successor to George Grossmith in the comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
. They had three children, one of whom, Betty Huntley-Wright
Betty Huntley-Wright
Betty Huntley-Wright was a British actress and vocalist. Daughter of the comic actor Huntley Wright, she had a long career on stage, chiefly in comedy and pantomime, and in film, radio and television...
, went on to a successful television and film career.
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
for productions at the Comedy Theatre. His roles included Montague Sibsey in The Mountain Climber. In 1907 he performed in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
productions of Les p'tites Michu and The Dairy Maids. Back in England, his appearances included King of Cadonia
King of Cadonia
King of Cadonia is an English musical in two acts with a book by Frederick Lonsdale, lyrics by Adrian Ross and Arthur Wimperis and music by Sidney Jones and Frederick Rosse. It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London on 3 September 1908, produced by Frank Curzon, and ran for 333...
(1908, as the Duke of Alasia), Dear Little Denmark (1909, as Hansen), The Girl in the Train
The Girl in the Train
Die geschiedene Frau , is an operetta in three acts by Leo Fall with a libretto by Victor Léon, after Victorien Sardou's Divorçons!...
(1910, as President Van Eyck),The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg
The Count of Luxembourg is an operetta in two acts with English lyrics and libretto by Basil Hood and Adrian Ross, music by Franz Lehár, based loosely on the German original, entitled "Der Graf von Luxemburg", which had premiered in Vienna in 1909....
(1911, as Grand Duke Rutzinov), and Autumn Manoeuvres (1912, as Captain Withers). In 1913 he appeared with the Follies at the Coliseum in a successful "tabloid musical comedy", Simple 'Earted Bill.
Later years
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Wright enlisted in the army in 1914, rising to the rank of captain in 1917. He was demobilised in 1919. He was back on stage in Three Pips and a Petticoat at the Coliseum in 1919, and appeared in A Breath of Fresh Air in 1920 and as Poire in Sybil at Daly's in 1921.
Madame Pompadour (operetta)
Madame Pompadour is an operetta in three acts, composed by Leo Fall with a libretto by Rudolf Schanzer and Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Welisch. Conducted by the composer, It opened at the Berliner Theater in Berlin on September 9, 1922 and then at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on March 2,...
(1923, as Joseph Calicot). In May 1929 he made his 5,000th appearance at Daly's, in a revival of The Lady of the Rose. In 1931 he played Gaspard in Les cloches de Corneville
Les cloches de Corneville
Les cloches de Corneville is an operetta in three acts, composed by Robert Planquette to a French libretto by Louis Clairville and Charles Gabet based on a play by Gabet.In 1876, the director of the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, Louis Cantin, hired Planquette to compose the operetta,...
and was praised by The Manchester Guardian: "quite remarkable old-school acting ... a true stylist." In 1935 Wright appeared in The Unknown Warrior, at the Arts Theatre Club
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...
, playing a serious role, for which he was respectfully reviewed. He also received praise for his appearance as Dunce the puritan in The Soldier's Fortune (1935), a revival of a restoration comedy
Restoration comedy
Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama...
by Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd .-Life:...
.
Wright was an early and prolific exponent of broadcasting, making frequent radio appearances in operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, plays and musical comedies on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. In October and November 1927, for example, he starred in complete transmissions of Miss Hook of Holland
Miss Hook of Holland
Miss Hook of Holland is an English musical comedy in two acts, with music and lyrics by Paul Rubens with a book by Austen Hurgon and Rubens. The show was produced by Frank Curzon and opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 31 January 1907, running for a very successful 462 performances...
, The Cousin from Nowhere, and The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia; or, The Story-Teller and the Slave, is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899, closing on 28 June 1900 after a profitable run of 211 performances...
and he sustained a similar pattern of frequent broadcasting for the rest of his career. He also appeared in several films, including the film version of San Toy (1902), Going Straight (1933), The Empress and I (1933), Ich und Die Kaiserin (1933), Heart Song (1933), The Only Girl (1934), and Look up and Laugh (1935), as well as an early television production of The Little Father of the Wilderness (1939).
Wright died of a heart attack at the age of 72 in Bangor, Wales
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
.
External links
- Huntley Wright at the IBDB database
- 1926 Film clip of Wright putting on make-up and assuming various disguises and characters
- List of films at MSN Movies database
- List of stage roles 1902-1910
- List of stage roles 1910-1919
- List of stage roles 1920-1929
- List of stage roles 1930-1939
- Photo of Wright, c. 1903
- Amusing photo of Wright in Madame Pompadour, c. 1924