He was the most famous actor in America. On the streets of New York, people stopped and stared when he walked by. When he toured the South, legislatures changed their meeting times so that everyone could see his performances. And no one played Hamlet like Edwin Booth.
Today, 120 years after his death, most people know Edwin Booth only as the brother of Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, if they know him at all. But he remains an important figure in the American theater, his onstage tragedies as great as his real-life ones. His natural, nuanced acting style was groundbreaking at a time when 19th-century thespians made a noisy career out of melodrama. Edwin Booth taught the upturned faces in the crowd a thoughtful new way of telling a story.
Booth also helped elevate the theatrical profession in the eyes of society, inspiring new respect for actors and creating an elegant gathering place for all artists. The Players, the New York social club that Booth founded in 1888, still hosts theatrical, music and literature events in its Gramercy Park townhouse. And it's an honor to be chosen for the Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award. Winners have included Kevin Spacey, Edward Albee, Jack Lemmon and Angela Lansbury.
This newly expanded edition features a detailed appendix of notable performances; a gallery of links to rare newspaper articles, audio and video recordings, and photos of Edwin and family; and an expanded bibliography of resources used in the research.
An entertaining and informative exploration of the life and times of a 19th-century icon.
