Frank Benson (actor)

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Benson, in costume (1916)

Sir Francis Robert "Frank" Benson (born November 4, 1858 in Tunbridge Wells , Kent , † December 31, 1939 in London ) was an English actor.

Life

Benson was born in 1858 to William Benson. He attended Winchester College and later New College at Oxford University , where he was involved as an athlete and actor. As a tennis player, he took part in the Wimbledon tournament once in 1882 and reached the semifinals. After completing his studies he pursued his acting career and in 1882 received the role of Count Paris in Romeo and Juliet at the Lyceum Theater in London, under the director Henry Irving .

In 1883 he founded his own group of actors with Walter Bentley, with which he was able to celebrate success in England in the following decades and with which he rose to become one of the most influential personalities on the British theater scene. A member of his group, Gertrude Constance Cockburn , he married in 1886. Benson concentrated on the works of William Shakespeare and was director of the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon from 1888 . In 1901 he founded an acting school. In 1916 he was beaten to a Knight Bachelor degree by King George V.

In 1935, at the age of 77, Benson appeared in a supporting role in the American drama The Great Impersonation . He died four years later in the London borough of Kensington .

Sources and web links

personal data
SURNAME Benson, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benson, Sir Francis Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 4, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Tunbridge Wells , Kent
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1939
Place of death London