John Henry (actor)

John Henry (1738-October 16, 1794) was an Irish-born actor and early American actor and theatre manager.

For other people named John Henry, see John Henry (disambiguation).
John Henry
Henry in role of Ephraim Smooth in Wild Oats, engraving by C. Tiebout
Born1738
Dublin, Ireland
DiedOctober 16, 1794
At sea
OccupationStage actor; manager
Spouse(s)Jane Storer (-1767); Maria Storer (at least by 1788-1794)

Career

Henry was born in Dublin, performed there and in London, and went to Jamaica with Charles Storer and his family about 1762.

He made his New York debut at the opening of the John Street Theatre on December 7, 1767 playing the role of Aimwell in The Beaux' Stratagem. He is said to have been the first to play the role of Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal in America. At the end of the American Revolution, after additional time in England and Jamaica, he returned to America and worked with Lewis Hallam Jr. to manage the American Company. He left the company in 1794 after disagreements with actor John Hodgkinson, who he had brought to the United States in 1792. William Dunlap described Henry as being six feet tall "and uncommonly handsome."[1]

Henry died at sea of illness on October 16, 1794, reportedly from complications from gout.[2]

Personal life

Henry's private life was a source of gossip during his day. He rode in a private coach, which was unusual for the time, and though seen as ostentatious he maintained it was because he had gout. Henry also had two wives, sisters with the surname Storer who were both actresses. The first wife Jane, and their two young children, died at sea during a ship fire in 1767 off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island. Henry and Jane's younger sister Ann survived. Henry and Ann then lived together (and she may have bore him a son), but likely never formally married. Henry eventually married younger sister Maria, who died shortly her husband, from the grief of his loss.[3][4][5][6][2][7]

Selected performances

References
  1. Dunlap, William. A History of the American Theatre, p. 81 (1832)
  2. Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 17, pp. 270-71 (1982)
  3. Fisher, James. Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings, p. 214 (2015)
  4. Fifty-years of a Play-goer's Journal, pp. v-vi (1860)
  5. Hornblow, Arthur. A History of the Theatre in America, Vol. I, p. 125 (1919)
  6. Highfill, Philip H., Jr. et al. A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians ..., Vol. 14, pp. 314 (1991)
  7. Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History, Vol. I, pp. 410-11 (2008)
  8. Taylor, George. The French Revolution and the London Stage, 1789-1805, pp. 36-37 (2004)
  9. Seilhamer, George Overcash. History of the American Theatre: During the revolution and after, pp. 355-56 (1889)(a long list of parts which Henry and his wife played)


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