William Rufus Blake was a stage actor.

Biography

Blake was of Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 parentage. When only seventeen years old he went on the stage at Halifax, N. S., taking the part of the Prince of Wales, in 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...

 with a company of strolling players. His first appearance in New York was in 1824, at the old Chatham Theatre

Chatham Theatre

The Chatham Theatre or Chatham Street Theatre was a playhouse on the east side of Chatham Street in New York City. It was located between Roosevelt and James streets, a few blocks south of the Bowery. At its opening in 1839, the Chatham was a neighborhood establishment, which featured big-name...

, as Frederick, in The Poor Gentleman, and in The Three Singles. While playing at the Tremont Theatre, Boston

Tremont Theatre, Boston

The Tremont Theatre on 88 Tremont Street was a playhouse in Boston. A group of wealthy Boston residents financed the building's construction. Architect Isaiah Rogers designed the original Theatre structure in 1827 in the Greek Revival style...

, in 1827, he received the first call before the curtain ever given to an actor in this country. In 1839 he visited England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, making his first appearance there in the Haymarket Theatre

Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...

, London. On 21 April 1863, while playing Sir Peter Teazle, in the Boston Theatre

Boston Theatre

The Boston Theatre was a theatre in Boston, Massachusetts.-Further reading:* Eugene Tompkins. History of the Boston Theatre 1854-1901. Houghton Mifflin, 1908. -External links:...

, he was suddenly taken ill, and died the next day.

Mr. Blake was a man of good education, and a fluent speaker. He excelled in the delineation of old men. One of his best characters was that of Jesse Rural in “Old Heads and Young Hearts.” He was, at different times, stage manager of the Tremont Theatre, Boston, joint manager of the Walnut Street Theatre

Walnut Street Theatre

The Walnut Street Theatre , located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 825 Walnut Street, is the oldest continuously operating theatre in the English-speaking world and the oldest in the United States...

, Philadelphia, and stage manager of the Broadway Theatre, New York.

Works

He was the author of several plays:

• Nero
• The Turned Head, an adaptation of Theodore S. Fay's novel Norman Leslie
• The Buggs, a burlesque