Otis Skinner
Encyclopedia
Otis Skinner was an American
actor.
He was the son of a Universalist minister; his brother, Charles Montgomery Skinner
, was a noted journalist and critic in New York. Skinner was educated in Hartford, Connecticut
, with an eye towards a career in commerce. A visit to the theater left him stage-struck. He secured his father's blessing for a theatrical career, and his father not only approved but also obtained from P. T. Barnum
an introduction to William Pleater Davidge
. Davidge employed him at eight dollars a week, and Skinner's career was launched. In the latter half of the 1870s, he played various bit roles in stock companies, and alongside stars such as John Edward McCullough
. He built up his repertoire for several years in New York and Boston, including three years with Lawrence Barrett
.
By the mid-1880s, he was touring first with Augustin Daly
, then, in 1889, with the troupe of Edwin Booth
and Helena Modjeska
. After that season, he played Romeo
in London opposite Margaret Mather
. His association with Mather lasted two years; after, with Booth dead, he returned to Modjeska, starring opposite her in her most famous roles. He also originated the role of Schwartz in Hermann Sudermann
's Magda, and played Armand in Dumas
's Camille
.
By the middle of the 1890s, he was a star in his own right. In 1894, he produced and starred in Clyde Fitch
's His Grace de Grammont; the same year, he performed in his brother's translation of Victor Hugo
's Le roi s'amuse
. In 1895 in Chicago, he succeeded as Hamlet; his performance was praised as natural and unaffected, without elocutionary tricks. From 1895, he was associated with the troupe of Joseph Jefferson
.
He excelled in Shakespearean roles like Shylock
, Hamlet
, Richard III
and Romeo
, and his Colonel Phillipe Brideau in The Honor of the Family was considered one of the greatest comedic performances of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Skinner's signature role was as Hajj the beggar in Kismet
(1911) on Broadway
, and he continued playing it on stage for twenty years, recreating his performance both in the 1920
and 1930
film
versions of the play.
Later roles included Albert Mott in Humpty Dumpty
(1918), Sir John Falstaff in both Henry IV, part 1
(1926) and The Merry Wives of Windsor
(1928), and Shylock
opposite the Portia
of Maude Adams
(1931–32) in The Merchant of Venice
. Like that of Charles Irving
, his Shylock was naturalistic and at least partly sympathetic; he avoided the melodramatic excess characteristic of earlier interpretations of the character.
Skinner was also a successful writer whose books included Footlights and Spotlights and Mad Folk of the Theatre. His daughter, actress and author Cornelia Otis Skinner
, was born in 1901.
He was portrayed onscreen by a somewhat miscast Charlie Ruggles, in the film version of Cornelia Otis Skinner's autobiography, Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
. In life Skinner had a cultured but raspy voice that sounded similar to actor James Mason
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor.
He was the son of a Universalist minister; his brother, Charles Montgomery Skinner
Charles Montgomery Skinner
- Newspaper career :Skinner was born in Victor, New York. His career in literature and journalism included editorship of the Brooklyn Eagle. His study of the paper’s famed Walt Whitman appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1903.- Writings :...
, was a noted journalist and critic in New York. Skinner was educated in Hartford, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, with an eye towards a career in commerce. A visit to the theater left him stage-struck. He secured his father's blessing for a theatrical career, and his father not only approved but also obtained from P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
an introduction to William Pleater Davidge
William Pleater Davidge
William Pleater Davidge was an English comedian, who came to the United States in 1850 and became identified with the American Stage.-Biography:...
. Davidge employed him at eight dollars a week, and Skinner's career was launched. In the latter half of the 1870s, he played various bit roles in stock companies, and alongside stars such as John Edward McCullough
John Edward McCullough
John Edward McCullough was an American actor.He was born in Coleraine, Ireland. He went to America at the age of sixteen, and made his first appearance on the stage at the Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1857...
. He built up his repertoire for several years in New York and Boston, including three years with Lawrence Barrett
Lawrence Barrett
Lawrence Barrett was an American stage actor.-Biography:He was born Lawrence Brannigan to Irish emigrant parents in Paterson, New Jersey. He made his first stage appearance at Detroit as Murad in The French Spy in 1853...
.
By the mid-1880s, he was touring first with Augustin Daly
Augustin Daly
John Augustin Daly was an American theatrical manager and playwright active in both the US and UK.-Biography:Daly was born in Plymouth, North Carolina and educated at Norfolk, Va...
, then, in 1889, with the troupe of Edwin Booth
Edwin Booth
Edwin Thomas Booth was a famous 19th century American actor who toured throughout America and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869 he founded Booth's Theatre in New York, a spectacular theatre that was quite modern for its time...
and Helena Modjeska
Helena Modjeska
Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska Helena Modjeska (October 12, 1840 – April 8, 1909, whose actual Polish surname was Modrzejewska , was a renowned actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles.Modjeska was the mother of Polish-American bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski....
. After that season, he played Romeo
Romeo Montague
Romeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...
in London opposite Margaret Mather
Margaret Mather
Margaret Mather was a Canadian actress.She was born in poverty in Tilbury, Ontario as Margaret Finlayson, daughter of John Finlayson, a farmer and mechanic, and Ann Mather...
. His association with Mather lasted two years; after, with Booth dead, he returned to Modjeska, starring opposite her in her most famous roles. He also originated the role of Schwartz in Hermann Sudermann
Hermann Sudermann
Hermann Sudermann was a German dramatist and novelist.- Early career :He was born at Matzicken, a village just to the east of Heydekrug in the Province of Prussia , close to the Russian frontier...
's Magda, and played Armand in Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, fils
Alexandre Dumas, fils was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père, also a writer and playwright.-Biography:...
's Camille
The Lady of the Camellias
The Lady of the Camellias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady of the Camellias premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set...
.
By the middle of the 1890s, he was a star in his own right. In 1894, he produced and starred in Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch
Clyde Fitch was an American dramatist.-Biography:Born William Clyde Fitch at Elmira, New York, he wrote over 60 plays, 36 of them original, which varied from social comedies and farces to melodrama and historical dramas.As the only child to live to adulthood, his father, Captain William G...
's His Grace de Grammont; the same year, he performed in his brother's translation of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's Le roi s'amuse
Le roi s'amuse
Le roi s'amuse is a play written by Victor Hugo in 1832. While it depicts the escapades of Francis I of France, censors of the time believed that it also contained insulting references to King Louis-Philippe and banned it after one performance...
. In 1895 in Chicago, he succeeded as Hamlet; his performance was praised as natural and unaffected, without elocutionary tricks. From 1895, he was associated with the troupe of Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson
Joseph Jefferson, commonly known as Joe Jefferson , was an American actor. He was the third actor of this name in a family of actors and managers, and one of the most famous of all American comedians....
.
He excelled in Shakespearean roles like Shylock
Shylock
Shylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
, Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
and Romeo
Romeo Montague
Romeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...
, and his Colonel Phillipe Brideau in The Honor of the Family was considered one of the greatest comedic performances of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Skinner's signature role was as Hajj the beggar in Kismet
Kismet (play)
Kismet is a three-act play written in 1911 by Edward Knoblauch . The title means Fate or Destiny in Turkish and Urdu. The play ran for an extraordinary two years in London...
(1911) 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...
, and he continued playing it on stage for twenty years, recreating his performance both in the 1920
Kismet (1920 film)
Kismet is a silent film version of the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock, starring Otis Skinner and Elinor Fair, and directed by Louis J. Gasnier. Skinner's daughter, author Cornelia Otis Skinner, plays a small role. This version was released by Robertson-Cole Distributing Company, and was...
and 1930
Kismet (1930 film)
Kismet was a 1930 costume drama photographed entirely in an early widescreen process using 65mm film that Warner Bros. called Vitascope. The film was based on Edward Knoblock's play Kismet, and was previously filmed as a silent film in 1920 which also starred Otis Skinner.-Production:Warner Bros....
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
versions of the play.
Later roles included Albert Mott in Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...
(1918), Sir John Falstaff in both Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
(1926) and The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
(1928), and Shylock
Shylock
Shylock is a fictional character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the security at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
opposite the Portia
Portia
-Biology:*Portia , a genus of jumping spiders*Anaea troglodyta, a brush-footed butterfly commonly known as the Florida Leafwing, Florida Goatweed, or Portia*Portia tree, a plant native to Polynesia*Ctt...
of Maude Adams
Maude Adams
Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...
(1931–32) in The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
. Like that of Charles Irving
Charles Irving
Sir Charles Graham Irving was a British Conservative Member of Parliament for Cheltenham.Irving's political career started in 1947 when he was elected to Cheltenham Borough Council, the following year he was elected to Gloucestershire County Council. He was Mayor of Cheltenham 1958-1960 and again...
, his Shylock was naturalistic and at least partly sympathetic; he avoided the melodramatic excess characteristic of earlier interpretations of the character.
Skinner was also a successful writer whose books included Footlights and Spotlights and Mad Folk of the Theatre. His daughter, actress and author Cornelia Otis Skinner
Cornelia Otis Skinner
Cornelia Otis Skinner was an American author and actress.-Biography:Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis Skinner and his wife Maud Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Baldwin School and Bryn Mawr College and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage...
, was born in 1901.
He was portrayed onscreen by a somewhat miscast Charlie Ruggles, in the film version of Cornelia Otis Skinner's autobiography, Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay is the title of a book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough, published in 1942. The book presents a description of their European tour in the 1920s, when they were fresh out of college from Bryn Mawr. Skinner wrote of Kimbrough, "To know...
. In life Skinner had a cultured but raspy voice that sounded similar to actor James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
.
External links
- Otis Skinner portrait gallery ; University of Washington, Sayre collection