BARRETT, LAWRENCE (1838-1891), American actor, was born of Irish parents in Paterson (N.J.), April 4, 1838. His family name was Brannigan. He made his first stage appearance at Detroit as Murad in The French Spy in 18J3. In Dec. 1856 he made his first New York appearance at the Chambers Street Theatre as Sir Thomas Clifford in The Hunchback. He served with distinction in the Civil War as captain in the 28th Massachu setts infantry regiment. From 1867 to 187o, with John McCul lough, he managed the California Theatre, San Francisco.
Among his many parts may be mentioned Hamlet, Lear, Mac beth, Shylock, Richard III., Wolsey, Benedick, Richelieu, David Garrick, Hernani, Alfred Evelyn, Lanciotto in George Henry Boker's (1823-9o) Francesca da Rimini, and James Harebell in The Man o' Airlie. He played Othello to Booth's Iago and Cassius to his Brutus. He acted in London in 1867, 1881, 1883 and 1884. His Richelieu in Bulwer Lytton's drama was considered his best part. He wrote a life of Edwin Forrest in the American Actors Series (Boston, 1881), and an admirable sketch of Edwin Booth in Edwin Booth and his Contemporaries (Boston, 1886). He died March 20, 1891.