Junius Brutus Booth - Career

Career

Booth gained national renown in England with his performance in the title role of Richard III in 1817 at the Covent Garden Theatre. Critics compared his performances favorably with those of Edmund Kean, who was at the time the foremost tragedian in Britain. Partisans of the two actors, literally called Boothites and Keanites, would occasionally start rows at venues where the two were playing together. This did not stop the two from performing in the same plays; Kean and Booth acted in several Shakespearean productions at the Drury Lane Theatre from 1817 to 1821. Kean then saw Booth as a threat and orchestrated a way for the two of them to perform those roles yet again, planning to out-perform his opponent. Kean’s long-standing presence contributed to Booth’s never ending comparisons to his rival.

Booth went to the United States in 1821, abandoning his wife and young son for another woman. Booth quickly got hired to play Richard III. Upon his late arrival to rehearsals, his employers were skeptical due to his appearance, wondering, “Is it possible this can be ‘the great Mr. Booth, ‘undoubtedly the best actor living?’” In under a year, Booth became the most prominent actor in America. Critic William Winter said, “He was followed as a marvel. Mention of his name stirred an enthusiasm no other could awaken” (Smith 23). They settled in Bel Air, Maryland. He embarked upon a thirty-year acting career that made him famous throughout the country. Booth traveled to such cities as Baltimore, Boston and New York.

A persistent story, but apocryphal according to some sources, is that Junius Brutus Booth was acclaimed for performing Orestes in the French language in New Orleans. Theatrical Manager Noah Ludlow, who was performing with Booth at the time at the American theatre in New Orleans, recounts the actual events starting on page 230 of his memoir Dramatic Life As I Found It and concludes: "Therefore I consider the story of Mr. Booth having performed Orestes in the French language, on the French stage, altogether a mistake arising from his having acted that character in the French theatre of New Orleans in 1822, but in the English language." However, Stephen M. Archer notes that Ludlow was in Mobile, Alabama in 1828 and was therefore not present for this performance. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. has two playbills from the production and both are in French. Booth's daughter Asia wrote that her father spoke fluent French and cited a review on the subject. The review was not oblivious to the fact that Booth's French pronunciation was less than perfect however. In 1823, Booth did the role in New York in the English adaptation by Ambrose Philips with Mary Ann Duff as Hermione.

In 1825-1826 and 1836-1837 Booth made tours of his native England. He took his whole family with him for the second of these. During their stay in England, one of his children, Henry Byron, succumbed to small pox. By 1831 he had become the manager of the Adelphi Theatre in Baltimore.

His acclaim continued to grow throughout the rest of his life; Walt Whitman described him as "the grandest histrion of modern times." Although his relationship with Mary Ann was relatively happy, four of their children died, three in the same year (1833), when there were epidemics of cholera. In addition, he suffered from alcoholism, which had an effect on the entire family and would never escape him.

Booth’s increasing alcoholism also caused him to become increasingly unpredictable and reckless. He would drop lines, miss scenes, and cause chaos onstage. During a performance of Hamlet, Booth suddenly left the scene he was playing with Ophelia, scurried up a ladder, and perched up in the backdrops crowing like a rooster until his manager retrieved him. He was once booked for a sold-out performance in Richmond, then disappeared from town for several days. Eventually he was found with “ragged, besotted wretches, the greatest actor on the American stage.” He soon became so unreliable that he had to be locked into his hotel rooms with a guard standing watch. Often he would still find ways of escaping to drown himself at a nearby tavern.

Reality could become overwhelming for Booth so he would flee from it, both in alcoholism and the roles he played. A critic said of Booth that the “personality of the actor was forgotten, and all the details seemed spontaneous workings and unconscious illustrations of the character he represented.” He seemed to be possessed by the characters, losing his own identity." His son, Edwin, later says of his father, “Great minds to madness closely are allied.” From February 1817 onward, he played almost three thousand performances. Booth brought a romantic natural acting style to America, which he pioneered into the hearts of American audiences.

During the period of Adelaide’s arrival to America, Junius Brutus was touring around the country. His son, Edwin, was chosen to accompany him as his dresser, aid, and guardian. Edwin was not at all like his father. This was an exhausting job because Junius Brutus could go without sleep for very long periods of time and would often disappear.

In 1835, Booth wrote a letter to President Andrew Jackson, demanding he pardon two pirates. In the letter, he threatened to kill the President. The letter was believed to be a hoax, until a handwriting analysis of a letter written some days after the threat concluded that the letter was, in fact, written by Booth. Booth apologized to Jackson for his threat. Decades later, Booth’s son, John Wilkes Booth, assassinated president Abraham Lincoln.

In 1852, he was involved in a tour of California with his sons Edwin and Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., performing in San Francisco and Sacramento. On the return trip, he again visited New Orleans for some engagements. (Junius had remained in San Francisco where he had previously established his home, and Edwin struck out on his own, acting in various venues in northern California.) On the steamboat ride from New Orleans to Cincinnati, Junius became ill, presumably from drinking impure river water. No physician was on board, and he died after suffering five days of fever. Mary Anne had heard only that her husband was sick and was stunned to find only a corpse upon her arrival in Cincinnati. She was so angry with Junius Jr. and Edwin for, in her view, abandoning their father that she informed them not to "come home." It was several years before either in fact did return.

Junius Brutus Booth was inducted, posthumously, into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981.