Early Life
Frederick Conway Tearle was born in New York City the son of the well-known British-born cornetist Jules Levy and American actress, Mary “Minnie” Conway. Minnie Conway was a direct descendent of William Augustus Conway, a British Shakespearian actor who became popular in America during the 1820s. Her father, the proprietor of the Brooklyn Theatre, was said to have organized the first stock company in America. After Tearle’s parents divorced, his mother married Osmond Tearle, a British Shakespearian actor popular in “the provinces”. Conway Tearle was the step-brother of actor Malcolm Tearle and a half brother of actor Godfrey Tearle. and jazz musician Jules Levy Jr.
Conway Tearle was educated in England and America and took to the stage at an early age. By the age of ten he could recite twelve Shakespearean plays from memory. His big break came at the age of twenty-one when in Manchester, England, without any preparation, he was called upon to play Hamlet after the lead actor took ill just prior to the first act.
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