Henry Condell

Henry Condell (died December 1627) was an actor in the King's Men, the playing company for which William Shakespeare wrote. With John Heminges, he was instrumental in preparing the First Folio, the collected plays of Shakespeare, published in 1623.

Condell's early life is obscure. It appears that he may have been born in 1576 in East Anglia, as his will mentions family in New Buckenham. Traditionally, he is associated with the "Harry" who appears in the cast list for Richard Tarlton's The Seven Deadly Sins, but this identification is little more than conjecture. If the connection is true, then Condell was an actor as early as 1590, acting in Lord Strange's Men alongside Heminges and Augustine Phillips. Condell was definitely in London by 1596, when he married Elizabeth Smart, a gentleman's daughter. They settled in St Mary Aldermanbury, the parish in which Heminges lived. Condell, like Heminges, served as churchwarden in that church. He and Elizabeth baptized nine children, of whom only three survived to adulthood.

Details of his mature life are, as is usual for Renaissance actors, few. His status within the Lord Chamberlain's and King's companies appears to have been high; in official communications he is generally listed shortly after Burbage and Heminges. Actors' wills indicate that he was close to at least some of his colleagues in the company. Shakespeare and Phillips bequeathed him money for mourning rings; Nicholas Tooley and Alexander Cooke named him as trustee for their estates. Condell prospered enough in his profession to purchase a country home at Fulham in Middlesex.

In addition to Every Man in His Humour (1598) and Every Man Out of His Humour (1599), Condell is known to have performed in four more of Jonson's plays: Sejanus (1603), Volpone (1605), The Alchemist (1610), and Catiline (1611). He was the original Cardinal in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1613). And he was listed in eight of the cast lists that were added to the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679:

Condell appears to have ended his stage career around 1619. He signed his last will and testament on December 13, 1627; he was buried on December 29 of the same year. He left an abundant estate, including shares in the Globe and Blackfriars Theatres.