HART, CHARLES (d. 1683), English actor, grandson of Shakespeare's sister Joan, is first heard of as playing women's parts at Blackfriar's theatre as an apprentice of Richard Robinson. In the Civil War he was a lieutenant of horse in Prince Rupert's regiment, and after the king's defeat he played surreptitiously at the Cockpit and at Holland House and other noblemen's resi dences. After the Restoration he is known to have been in 166o the original Dorante in The Mistaken Beauty, adapted from Cor neille's Le Menteur. In 1663 he went to the Theatre Royal in Kiligrew's company, with which he remained until 1682, taking leading parts in Dryden's, Jonson's and Beaumont and Fletcher's plays. He is highly spoken of by contemporaries in such Shakes pearian parts as Othello and Brutus. He is often mentioned by Pepys. Betterton praised him, and would not himself play the part of Hotspur until after Hart's retirement. Hart is said to have been the first lover of Nell Gwyn, and to have trained her for the stage.