biography
| name: |
Kemble, John Philip
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1757–1823)
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| biography:
| Actor, born in Prescot, Merseyside, NW England, UK. He trained for the priesthood at Sedgley Park, Staffordshire, and the English college at Douai, but became an actor, making his first appearance at Wolverhampton (1776). The success of his sister, Sarah Siddons, gave him the opportunity to play Hamlet at Drury Lane. He continued to play leading tragic characters at Drury Lane for many years, and became Sheridan's manager. He purchased a share of Covent Garden Theatre (1802), became manager, and made his first appearance there as Hamlet (1803). In 1808 the theatre was burned, and on the opening of the new building (1809) the notorious ‘Old Price’ riots broke out. He acted in the declamatory and statuesque style then in fashion, but his career on the stage waned when his rival, Edmund Kean, introduced a more naturalistic interpretation of dramatic roles, notably in Shakespeare's plays. He retired in 1817, and afterwards settled in Lausanne. His brother, Charles (1775–1854), also an actor, was the father of Fanny Kemble. |
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