Robert B. Mantell
Encyclopedia
Robert Bruce Mantell was a heralded Shakespearean stage actor who made several silent films. His mother was Elizabeth Bruce Mantell who objected to her son becoming an actor so he used the name 'Robert Hudson' early in his career. Mantell first came to the United States in 1874 and stayed two weeks with no theatrical success. He returned in 1878 in support of Helena Modjeska
but didn't stay. In 1883 he found success on Broadway supporting Fanny Davenport
as her leading man in Fedora. For the remainder of his theatrical career he played Shakespeare and high class drama. Mantell was also famous for having had many marriages and he often performed with his wives in Shakespearean productions. His last wife, Genevieve Hamper (1888–1971), was 35 years his junior, and bore him a son Bruce Mantell Jr. (1912–1933).
Mantell began in films at 61 in 1915 working at Fox Studios with J. Gordon Edwards
, who directed all of his films except the last. Under the Red Robe
(1923) was directed by Alan Crosland
and distributed through Goldwyn Pictures
. As with most early Fox films, all of Mantell's films from that studio are lost
. Elements of Under the Red Robe are held at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.
Actor Robert Bruce Mantell was the third child of James and Elizabeth Mantell (ref. “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” by Clarence J. Bulliet, John Luce & Company, 1918, p. 21).
He was born February 7, 1854, in Irvine, Scotland, at the Wheatsheaf Inn—which his mother and father owned and operated. (Bulliet, pp. 20, 21) Mantell’s mother, born Elizabeth Bruce, could trace her lineage to ancient Scotland’s famous Robert The Bruce. (Bulliet, p. 12) Mantell is a very old English name. It is said, “The first ever-so-great-grandfather of which there is a trace came over with William the Conqueror”. (Bulliet, p. 14)
When “Bobbie,” as he was known, was 5 years old his parents sold the Wheatsheaf Inn and moved to Dublin to take over management of a larger public house, which they christened the Eglington-Winton. (Bulliet, p. 23)
Robert Mantell attended Model School, then Gribben’s Penny School, then Miss Smith’s school for Boys and Girls, then Dr. Rennie’s school for boys, then William Campbell’s school. He was dismissed from each for disciplinary problems. It wasn’t until he was enrolled at McClinton’s Seminary that he finally obtained something of a formal education. (Bulliet, pp. 27–30)
In the book, “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” Clarence J. Bulliet writes that in Dublin “there was a dramatic club, which young Bob Mantell, semi-clandestinely, because of parental objections, was one of the burning tapers”. (Bulliet, p. 13)
Mantell may have first been drawn to the entertainment industry by P. T. Barnum whom Robert remembered staying at the Wheatsheaf Inn when young Robert was only 3. (Bulliet, p. 22) Mantell may have caught the acting bug from amateur theatricals—such as “Alonzo The Brave “ and “The Fair Imogene”—which the family put on at their public house during the Christmas season when guests were few. (Bulliet , p. 25)
While his mother approved of such amateur stage productions, she had “a horror of the professional stage”. (Bulliet, p. 14)
When Robert resolved to pursue a career on the stage, his mother refused to assist him – refused, that is, until he swore to change his name to Robert Hudson and to go to America to ply his craft. With this, Robert’s mother presented Robert with “the same little sum of money she had given his older brothers when they started out into the world” (Bulliet, p. 57) and off he went.
After a mere 10 days in Boston, with no job and no prospects, Robert was down to exactly enough money to purchase a return ticket. Another day in Boston and he’d have been stuck in America. So he bought a ticket on the Hecla and returned home to Ireland. (Bulliet, p. 58)
His first theatrical job (still using the name Robert Hudson) was with a stock company at the Theatre Royal, in Rochdale, Lancashire where, on Oct. 21, 1876, he made his stage debut in Dion Boucicault
’s “Arrah-Na-Pogue”. (Bulliet, p. 60)
The company disbanded after one year, (Bulliet, p. 63) and Mantell joined the Heffernan company, performing abbreviated versions of MacBeth, Othello, Richard III and Hamlet that were “so hydraulically condensed that he could give ten or a dozen performances a day”. (Bulliet, p. 64)
Then Mantell joined the company of Alice Marriott (Bulliet, p. 66) during which time he was frequently in the company and society of no less than Sir Francis Drake and Francis Lord Bacon. (Bulliet, p. 67).
He remained in the employ of the Marriott company until 1878 when he set sail once again for America. Using his real name for the first time, Mantell got the role of Tibalt in the Leyland Opera House’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Mantell kept a diary of his American tour:
> Mar. 3 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Small place
> Mar. 4 – Lafayette, Indiana – Small place
> Mar. 6 – Springfield, Ohio – Small place
(Bulliet, pp. 77, 78)
Mantell’s first American tour also took him to Baltimore (“Great place for oysters”) and New Orleans (“Wouldn’t live in it for anything.”). It took him to Indianapolis, Indiana (“Something like Belfast”) and to Louisville, Kentucky (“A very nice city”) in addition to New York (which he liked) and Washington, DC, (which he did not). On May 17, 1878, Mantel sailed home for England, unaware that his first tour of America would not be his last. (Bulliet, pp. 80–82)
In England, Mantell joined the company of the esteemed actor-manager George S. Knight portraying Iago in Shakespeare’s “Othello” opposite Frank Clement who played the Moor. (Bulliet, p. 84) And while in Knight’s company he played several roles in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” and “MacBeth.”
In 1883 he was once again headed to America. Mantell’s first leading role in America was as Sir Clement Huntingford in “The World.” (Bulliet, p. 98) He attained critical and popular acclaim in the role of Loris Ipanoff in Fanny Davenport’s 1883–1884 production of “Fedora.” After that, leading roles came quickly and steadily. (Bulliet, pp. 101–105)
He starred in John Keller's “Tangled Lives” in 1886, starred in “The Marble Heart” in 1887, and in “Monbars” in 1887–88. By 1890, “Mantell believed himself strong enough to venture on a tour on his own account, after the fashion of the English actor-managers and pocket all the profits.” (Bulliet, p. 133)
Mantell married Marie Sheldon, who bore him two sons, Robert and Jack, but fame and traveling are hard on a marriage and Marie soon sued Robert for divorce. Alimony demands and arrest warrants for nonsupport kept Mantell out of New York for years. (Bulliet, p. 140)
Mantell subsequently married Charlotte Behrens who bore him a daughter, Ethel Mantell, in 1895. (Bulliet, p. 141)
In the late summer of 1892 Mantell opened at New York’s Proctors Theatre in Charles Osborne’s The Face in the Moonlight with Caroline Miskel-Hoyt
, a young actress who was just at the beginning of her brief career on Broadway.
In the last 5 years of the 19th century he toured extensively, putting on performances of “Monbars,” “Othello,” “Hamlet,” and “The Corsican Brothers” in town after town, state after state—everywhere but New York. (Bulliet, pp. 167–169)
When the lawyers finally resolved his alimony difficulties, Mantell—now significantly older—returned to New York, but not as a romantic lead, as he had been known for so many years, but as a classic tragedian. One of his first leading roles after his return to New York was as Richard III, where he demonstrated that “the line of great tragedians on the American stage had not ended with Edwin Booth”. (Bulliet, p. 169)
Work came easily for Mantell after that. At one point Mantell was starring in “Richard III” one week, “Richelieu” the second week, “Othello” the third week, and “Hamlet” the fourth week in rotation. (Bulliet p. 188)
Mantell played Caudor in “MacBeth” may times over. His biographer, Clarence Bulliet, said none ever played the role better. Bulliet also said that Mantell’s portrayal of “King John”—in a version of Shakespeare’s chronicle edited by Mantell himself—was so intense (especially the death scene where great drops of Vaseline melted and dripped from his stringy red beard under the hot stage lights) that few who saw Mantell play the ill-fated king were ever able to forget it. (Bulliet, p. 222)
But “King Lear" was by far his “masterwork”. (Bulliet, p. 191) He played the role over and over, refining and perfecting it from the 1910s almost until his death in 1928.
In 1913 Mantell got a press agent/business agent, Clarence J. Bulliet (ne Clarence J. Bulleit, of Corydon, Indiana) who later became Art Critic for the Chicago Evening Post
(1924–1932) and the Chicago Daily News
(1932–1952). It was Bulliet who, in 1918, wrote the definitive biography on Robert Bruce Mantell called “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” published by John Luce & Company, 1918.
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....
but didn't stay. In 1883 he found success on Broadway supporting Fanny Davenport
Fanny Davenport
Fanny Lily Gipsy Davenport was an English-American stage actress. The daughter of Edward Loomis Davenport and Fanny Vining, she was born in London, England, but was brought to America when a child and educated in the Boston public schools...
as her leading man in Fedora. For the remainder of his theatrical career he played Shakespeare and high class drama. Mantell was also famous for having had many marriages and he often performed with his wives in Shakespearean productions. His last wife, Genevieve Hamper (1888–1971), was 35 years his junior, and bore him a son Bruce Mantell Jr. (1912–1933).
Mantell began in films at 61 in 1915 working at Fox Studios with J. Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards was a Canadian-born film director, producer, and a writer who began his career as a stage actor and as a stage director. He made his directorial debut on film in 1914's St. Elmo. Soon went on helming all of the Fox studio's mega-budget spectacles, including all of actress Theda...
, who directed all of his films except the last. Under the Red Robe
Under the Red Robe (1923 film)
Under the Red Robe is a 1923 silent historical drama directed by Alan Crosland based upon Stanley J. Weyman's novel Under the Red Robe. The film marks the last motion picture appearance by stage actor Robert B. Mantell who plays Cardinal Richelieu and the only silent screen performance of opera...
(1923) was directed by Alan Crosland
Alan Crosland
Alan Crosland was an American stage actor and film director.-Early life and career:Born in New York City, New York to a well-to-do family, Alan Crosland attended Dartmouth College. After graduation he took a job as a writer with the New York Globe magazine...
and distributed through Goldwyn Pictures
Goldwyn Pictures
Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in 1916 by Samuel Goldfish in partnership with Broadway producers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn using an amalgamation of both last names to create the name...
. As with most early Fox films, all of Mantell's films from that studio are lost
Lost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
. Elements of Under the Red Robe are held at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.
Actor Robert Bruce Mantell was the third child of James and Elizabeth Mantell (ref. “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” by Clarence J. Bulliet, John Luce & Company, 1918, p. 21).
He was born February 7, 1854, in Irvine, Scotland, at the Wheatsheaf Inn—which his mother and father owned and operated. (Bulliet, pp. 20, 21) Mantell’s mother, born Elizabeth Bruce, could trace her lineage to ancient Scotland’s famous Robert The Bruce. (Bulliet, p. 12) Mantell is a very old English name. It is said, “The first ever-so-great-grandfather of which there is a trace came over with William the Conqueror”. (Bulliet, p. 14)
When “Bobbie,” as he was known, was 5 years old his parents sold the Wheatsheaf Inn and moved to Dublin to take over management of a larger public house, which they christened the Eglington-Winton. (Bulliet, p. 23)
Robert Mantell attended Model School, then Gribben’s Penny School, then Miss Smith’s school for Boys and Girls, then Dr. Rennie’s school for boys, then William Campbell’s school. He was dismissed from each for disciplinary problems. It wasn’t until he was enrolled at McClinton’s Seminary that he finally obtained something of a formal education. (Bulliet, pp. 27–30)
In the book, “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” Clarence J. Bulliet writes that in Dublin “there was a dramatic club, which young Bob Mantell, semi-clandestinely, because of parental objections, was one of the burning tapers”. (Bulliet, p. 13)
Mantell may have first been drawn to the entertainment industry by P. T. Barnum whom Robert remembered staying at the Wheatsheaf Inn when young Robert was only 3. (Bulliet, p. 22) Mantell may have caught the acting bug from amateur theatricals—such as “Alonzo The Brave “ and “The Fair Imogene”—which the family put on at their public house during the Christmas season when guests were few. (Bulliet , p. 25)
While his mother approved of such amateur stage productions, she had “a horror of the professional stage”. (Bulliet, p. 14)
When Robert resolved to pursue a career on the stage, his mother refused to assist him – refused, that is, until he swore to change his name to Robert Hudson and to go to America to ply his craft. With this, Robert’s mother presented Robert with “the same little sum of money she had given his older brothers when they started out into the world” (Bulliet, p. 57) and off he went.
After a mere 10 days in Boston, with no job and no prospects, Robert was down to exactly enough money to purchase a return ticket. Another day in Boston and he’d have been stuck in America. So he bought a ticket on the Hecla and returned home to Ireland. (Bulliet, p. 58)
His first theatrical job (still using the name Robert Hudson) was with a stock company at the Theatre Royal, in Rochdale, Lancashire where, on Oct. 21, 1876, he made his stage debut 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 “Arrah-Na-Pogue”. (Bulliet, p. 60)
The company disbanded after one year, (Bulliet, p. 63) and Mantell joined the Heffernan company, performing abbreviated versions of MacBeth, Othello, Richard III and Hamlet that were “so hydraulically condensed that he could give ten or a dozen performances a day”. (Bulliet, p. 64)
Then Mantell joined the company of Alice Marriott (Bulliet, p. 66) during which time he was frequently in the company and society of no less than Sir Francis Drake and Francis Lord Bacon. (Bulliet, p. 67).
He remained in the employ of the Marriott company until 1878 when he set sail once again for America. Using his real name for the first time, Mantell got the role of Tibalt in the Leyland Opera House’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Mantell kept a diary of his American tour:
> Mar. 3 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Small place
> Mar. 4 – Lafayette, Indiana – Small place
> Mar. 6 – Springfield, Ohio – Small place
(Bulliet, pp. 77, 78)
Mantell’s first American tour also took him to Baltimore (“Great place for oysters”) and New Orleans (“Wouldn’t live in it for anything.”). It took him to Indianapolis, Indiana (“Something like Belfast”) and to Louisville, Kentucky (“A very nice city”) in addition to New York (which he liked) and Washington, DC, (which he did not). On May 17, 1878, Mantel sailed home for England, unaware that his first tour of America would not be his last. (Bulliet, pp. 80–82)
In England, Mantell joined the company of the esteemed actor-manager George S. Knight portraying Iago in Shakespeare’s “Othello” opposite Frank Clement who played the Moor. (Bulliet, p. 84) And while in Knight’s company he played several roles in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” and “MacBeth.”
In 1883 he was once again headed to America. Mantell’s first leading role in America was as Sir Clement Huntingford in “The World.” (Bulliet, p. 98) He attained critical and popular acclaim in the role of Loris Ipanoff in Fanny Davenport’s 1883–1884 production of “Fedora.” After that, leading roles came quickly and steadily. (Bulliet, pp. 101–105)
He starred in John Keller's “Tangled Lives” in 1886, starred in “The Marble Heart” in 1887, and in “Monbars” in 1887–88. By 1890, “Mantell believed himself strong enough to venture on a tour on his own account, after the fashion of the English actor-managers and pocket all the profits.” (Bulliet, p. 133)
Mantell married Marie Sheldon, who bore him two sons, Robert and Jack, but fame and traveling are hard on a marriage and Marie soon sued Robert for divorce. Alimony demands and arrest warrants for nonsupport kept Mantell out of New York for years. (Bulliet, p. 140)
Mantell subsequently married Charlotte Behrens who bore him a daughter, Ethel Mantell, in 1895. (Bulliet, p. 141)
In the late summer of 1892 Mantell opened at New York’s Proctors Theatre in Charles Osborne’s The Face in the Moonlight with Caroline Miskel-Hoyt
Caroline Miskel-Hoyt
Caroline Miskel-Hoyt was an American stage actress who became the second wife of playwright Charles Hale Hoyt.-Early life:Caroline Scales , was born in the shadow of Cincinnati along the Kentucky side of the Ohio River at Covington on September 15, 1873...
, a young actress who was just at the beginning of her brief career on Broadway.
In the last 5 years of the 19th century he toured extensively, putting on performances of “Monbars,” “Othello,” “Hamlet,” and “The Corsican Brothers” in town after town, state after state—everywhere but New York. (Bulliet, pp. 167–169)
When the lawyers finally resolved his alimony difficulties, Mantell—now significantly older—returned to New York, but not as a romantic lead, as he had been known for so many years, but as a classic tragedian. One of his first leading roles after his return to New York was as Richard III, where he demonstrated that “the line of great tragedians on the American stage had not ended with Edwin Booth”. (Bulliet, p. 169)
Work came easily for Mantell after that. At one point Mantell was starring in “Richard III” one week, “Richelieu” the second week, “Othello” the third week, and “Hamlet” the fourth week in rotation. (Bulliet p. 188)
Mantell played Caudor in “MacBeth” may times over. His biographer, Clarence Bulliet, said none ever played the role better. Bulliet also said that Mantell’s portrayal of “King John”—in a version of Shakespeare’s chronicle edited by Mantell himself—was so intense (especially the death scene where great drops of Vaseline melted and dripped from his stringy red beard under the hot stage lights) that few who saw Mantell play the ill-fated king were ever able to forget it. (Bulliet, p. 222)
But “King Lear" was by far his “masterwork”. (Bulliet, p. 191) He played the role over and over, refining and perfecting it from the 1910s almost until his death in 1928.
In 1913 Mantell got a press agent/business agent, Clarence J. Bulliet (ne Clarence J. Bulleit, of Corydon, Indiana) who later became Art Critic for the Chicago Evening Post
Chicago Evening Post
The Chicago Evening Post was a daily newspaper published in Chicago from March 1, 1886 until 1932. The newspaper was founded as a penny paper during the technological paradigm-shift created by the invention of linotype technology, and failed during the Great Depression...
(1924–1932) and the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
(1932–1952). It was Bulliet who, in 1918, wrote the definitive biography on Robert Bruce Mantell called “Robert Mantell’s Romance,” published by John Luce & Company, 1918.
External links
- Robert B. Mantell at the Internet Broadway Database (IBDb.com)
- Robert B. Mantell at the IMDb.com database
- Robert B. Mantell profile on North American Theatre Online website
- Robert B. Mantell at findagrave.com
- Robert B. Mantell Jr., son of Robert B. Mantell, at findagrave.com (the photo is of Robert B. Mantell)
- Genevieve Hamper findagrave.com
- Robert B. Mantell photo gallery New York Public Library Billy Rose Collection