Herbert Beerbohm Tree

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Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Tree in old age

Sir Herbert Draper Beerbohm Tree (born December 17, 1853 in London , † July 2, 1917 ibid) was an English theater director and stage and film actor. During his lifetime he was considered to be one of the most important personalities in British theater and founded the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , among other things .

The first stage experiences

The son of a grain merchant began his career as an employee in his father's city office. In addition, he devoted himself to the art of theater acting as an amateur. He made his professional debut in 1878. The following year he could be seen in the role of Prince Maleotti on the side of Genevieve Ward in Herman Merivales piece Forget-Me-Not . In 1884 Tree was the first actor to do the Revd. Robert Spalding played in a performance of Charles Henry Hawtrey's The Private Secretary .

In early 1887 he was appointed manager of the Comedy Theater in London's Panton Street. There he was successful as an actor, especially in the comedy The Red Lamp . He was then appointed to the management of the famous Haymarket Theater , a classic West End stage. In the following years he was involved in production and a. involved in the following plays: The Merry Wives of Windsor (1889), The Dancing Girl (1891), where he played the Duke of Guisebury, Hamlet (1892), A Woman Without Meaning (1893) and, above all, Trilby (1895) with Tree in the role of Svengali, whom he would play many times in the future.

His successful work at the Haymarket Theater enabled him to open Her Majesty's Theater in late April 1897 . The premiere piece was called The Seats of the Mighty, penned by Gilbert Parker. Between 1888 and 1914 Tree put together a wealth of splendidly furnished Shakespeare productions, his Richard II was praised by contemporary critics and received eulogies.

Activities in the 20th century

In 1904 he founded the now world-famous RADA ( Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ). In 1909 he was raised to the nobility as a Knight Bachelor .

Tree was famous for his spontaneous improvisations. He was Henry Higgins' first professor in the world premiere of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (1914). When confronted by Shaw, who insisted on faithful play, for his constant improvisation at the end of Pygmalion , Tree replied, "My end makes money, you should be happy." Shaw replied, "Your conclusions are damnable; You should be shot! "

Herbert Beerbohm Tree played in numerous early silent films (mainly Shakespeare films), such as B. in King John (1899), in the first version of The Tempest (1904) and in the famous Macbeth version from 1916.

Beerbohm Tree was the half-brother of the author, critic, illustrator and satirist Max Beerbohm . He was married to the actress Maud Holt (1863–1937), and there are three children from this marriage. He was the father of actresses Viola and Iris Tree , grandfather of actor David Tree and great-grandfather of musician Alan Parsons . Tree was also the father of seven children out of wedlock, among them as famous as the future director Carol Reed . The actor Oliver Reed was a grandson of Tree.

Filmography

  • 1899: King John
  • 1911: Henry VIII
  • 1914: trilby
  • 1916: Macbeth
  • 1916: Intolerance ( Intolerance ; cameo )
  • 1916: The Old Folks at Home

literature

  • Phyllis Hartnoll, Peter Found (Ed.): The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theater. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 1993, ISBN 0-19-282574-7 , pp. 514 f.

Web links

Commons : Herbert Beerbohm Tree  - collection of images, videos and audio files

annotation

  1. a b Phyllis Hartnoll, Peter Found (Ed.): The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theater. 2nd Edition. 1993, p. 514.
  2. ^ Biography of Alan Parsons. Retrieved July 24, 2014 .