Career
He managed London's Globe Theatre, the one demolished in 1902, during (1884–1887) and Royal Comedy Theatre (1887–1893, 1896–1898). He was noted for such works as The Private Secretary (his adaptation of a German farce, 1884), from which he earned the colossal sum of £123,000, but he was a gambler throughout his life (and owned a string of racehorses). In his own words: "I lost half-a-crown at a small race meeting. Ever since, I've been trying to get that half-crown back, and it must have cost me half a million." Another of his major successes was A Message from Mars by Richard Ganthony. He played in Somerset Maugham's plays Jack Straw and Home and Beauty. He created the role of Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.
Sir Charles Hawtrey mentored Noël Coward. It has been said that Coward idolized Charles Hawtrey, and that it was from him that Coward learned both comic acting techniques and playwriting. A young Hermione Gingold understudied in some of Hawtrey's theatre productions. He was especially known for his expertise in playing light farce and became somewhat typecast in the role of the liar, especially erring husbands and other "cads", these parts becoming known (according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) as "Hawtrey parts". . Also associated with a number of famous anecdotes and with the naming of the Hanky-Panky cocktail.
As a treat, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon celebrated her 14th birthday in a box at the Coliseum Theatre, London, watching a Charles Hawtrey show (on 4 August 1914). On the same day her future father-in-law, King George V, declared war on Germany. The Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, refers to this event in the poem celebrating her 100th birthday.
Read more about this topic: Charles Hawtrey (actor Born 1858)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)