Monday 16 September 2019

1156) Herbert Beerbohm Tree

Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1852 – 1917). English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the rebuilding, and became manager, of His Majesty's Theatre. Again, he promoted a mix of Shakespeare and classic plays with new works and adaptations of popular novels, giving them spectacular productions in this large house, and often playing leading roles. His wife, actress Helen Maud Holt, often played opposite him and assisted him with management of the theatres.
He founded the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1904 and was knighted, for his contributions to theatre, in 1909. His famous family includes his siblings, explorer Julius Beerbohm, author Constance Beerbohm and half-brother caricaturist Max Beerbohm. His daughters were Viola, an actress, Felicity and Iris, a poet; and his illegitimate children included film director Carol Reed. A grandson was the actor Oliver Reed.


- "Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s height and red hair were his most striking features as a young man. Max Beerbohm, his half-brother and 19 years his junior, looked up to him: ‘Herbert seemed very tall … and his hair was of a very bright red.’ [...] He was then, in fact, – with his red hair, his pale complexion and faint eyes, – the reverse of impressive off the stage..."  https://www.npg.org.uk/collectio…/…/portraitExtended/mw09355

- "He was large, red-haired and robust, with a madcap sense of humour.https://books.google.it/books…

- "He was a tall and slim youth whose carroty red hair contrasted sharply with his turquoise-green eyes..."  https://books.google.it/books…

 - "One of his elder brothers, Herbert Beerbohm, who took the name Tree, was 20 years his senior and the opposite to Max in all respects - huge, red-haired, exuberant, a natural optimist, a leading actor-manager..."  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4728983/Languid-in-life-quick-on-the-draw.html



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