BOOTH, EDWIN THOMAS (1833-93). A dis tinguished American actor, the son of Junius Brutus Booth. Be was born at Belair, Md., No vember 13, 1833. and early showed his studious temperament. Brought up to the stage by his father, he made his d(•but in Boston in In 1851 lie took his father's place as Richard Ill. at the Chatham Square Theatre. New York. The next season they went to and after his father's return he remained in the \Vest for several years, visiting also the Sandwich Islands and Australia (I$34). He returned from Cali fornia late in 1856, and after a tour in the South made, in Boston (April, 1857), an im mense success as Sir Giles Overreach. Shortly afterwards he repeated his triumph in New York. There, also, he became acquainted with Mary Devlin, whom he married in 1860. She -died in 1863. It was in 1861 that he first ap peared in London, where, after playing Shyloek and Sir Giles, he won great popularity as Riche lieu. In 1863 he took control of the Garden, New York, and there his productions of Hamlet and other Shakespearean plays were fa mously successful. After the assassination of Lincoln by his brother, John Wilkes Booth, he retired temporarily from the stage, but reap peared in New York in January, 1866. He mar ried, in 1869, Mary McVicker, who lived till 1881. In 1869 "Booth's Theatre" was built, where his success for a time was hoth artistic and financial; hut the pa nie of 1873 made him a bankrupt. His tours in the years that followed, however, amply restored his fortunes. In 1880, and again in 1882, he visited Europe, and was received with the most flattering distinction.
Some time after his return he formed a partner ship with Lawrence Barrett, with whom he con tinued to appear till the death of Barrett in 1891. He himself then retired from the stage. He was generally regarded as the leading Ameri call tragedian, and in a few great characters he was without a rival. His Hamlet was probably his most popular role, but his Lear and Othello were especially admired, besides other parts al ready mentioned. Ile was not a man of im posing bodily appearance, being rather below the medium stature; but his frame was compact, his carriage at once dignified and graceful, his eye piercing, his features grave. Iie was thor oughly absorbed in his parts, and his voice was under such complete control as to express, upon occasion, any shade of feeling, sentiment, or conviction. Ilis rendering of familiar Shake spearean passages displayed a fine appreciation of their substance, and of the lights and shades of manner and expression by which their full meaning may be brought out. In his private life he was greatly esteemed. He was the found er and first president of the Players' Club, of New York, in the home of which, given by him self, he died, June 7, 1893. Consult: William Winter, The Life and A rt- of Edwin Booth (New 1894) ; Edwina Booth Grossman, Edwin Booth; Recollections by His Daughter, and Let ters to Her and to His Friends (New York, 1894) ; Asia Booth Clarke, The Elder and the Younger Booth (Boston, 18'82).