John Underwood (actor) - Career

Career

Underwood began as a boy player with the Children of the Chapel, and was cast in that company's productions of Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels (1600) and The Poetaster (1601). In 1608 or soon after, he joined the King's Men along with William Ostler, another former member of the Chapel Children troupe. Underwood was a member of the cast of the King's Men's production of Jonson's The Alchemist in 1610, and was in the casts of many productions that followed, including Jonson's Catiline (1611) and John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi (the revival of c. 1621).

In the 25 cast lists added to plays in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679, Underwood is mentioned in the casts of 18 dramas:

  • Bonduca
  • The Custom of the Country
  • The Double Marriage
  • The False One
  • The Humorous Lieutenant
  • The Island Princess
  • The Knight of Malta
  • The Laws of Candy
  • The Little French Lawyer
  • The Lovers' Progress
  • The Loyal Subject
  • The Maid in the Mill
  • The Pilgrim
  • The Queen of Corinth
  • The Sea Voyage
  • Valentinian
  • A Wife for a Month
  • Women Pleased

His total equals those of Joseph Taylor and Robert Benfield, and is exceeded only by John Lowin's 21. Considering that his career was two decades shorter than Taylor's or Benfield's (both of whom acted until the theatres closed in 1642), Underwood was clearly a mainstay of the company during his career.

Read more about this topic:  John Underwood (actor)

Famous quotes containing the word career:

    ““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
    —Lawrence Kutner (20th century)

    “I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
    —Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)

    “It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
    —Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)