Irving, Sir Henry, originally John Henry Brodribb 1838-1905
English actor

He was born in Keinton-Mandeville, Somerset, and was for a time a clerk in London but made his first appearance at the Sunderland Theatre in 1856, thereafter acting in Edinburgh (1857-60), Manchester (1860-65) and Liverpool. In 1866 he made his London debut at the St James's Theatre, transferring to the Lyceum in 1871. His Hamlet (1874), Macbeth (1875) and Othello (1876) gained him his reputation as the greatest English actor of his time, although his striking presence and flair for interpreting the subtler emotions made him more successful in parts such as Shylock and Malvolio than in the great tragic roles of King Lear or Hamlet. In 1878 he began his famous theatrical partnership with Ellen Terry at the Lyceum (where he became actor-manager-lessee), when she played Ophelia to his Hamlet. The association lasted until 1902, and among their successes was William Wills's version of Goethe's Faust (1885), in which Ellen Terry played Marguerite to Irving's Mephistopheles. They gave a command performance of The Bells for Queen Victoria at Sandringham (1889), and produced Tennyson's play Becket in 1893. Irving toured the USA with his company eight times. The failure of his son's play and the loss by fire of the Lyceum's stock of scenery in 1898 forced him to sell the lease of the Lyceum, which was eventually turned into a music hall. In 1895 he became the first actor to receive a knighthood. His ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey. His publications include The Drama (1893) and an edition of Shakespeare's plays (1888). Of his sons, Laurence (1871-1914) was a novelist and playwright who was drowned in the Empress of Ireland disaster, and Henry Brodribb ('H B'; 1870-1919) was an actor.

Bibliography: Laurence Irving, Henry Irving, the Actor and His World (1951)