The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-09-24
RICHARD MANSFIELD.
Harper'S Weekly.)

Notwithstanding, the American who
has faith in artistic ideals, and who
likes good acting, Will mourn the less
Of Richard Mansfield. He has been fore
most of the American actors, since Booth
and Barrett died, who have had and
who have endeayOred to maintain. ar
tistic ideals. He was not old, being but
little more than 80. He was born on the
island of HeligOland. May "A. 1857. He
has lived a hard and Industrious life.
His mother was Nine. Ermina Mansfield
RudersdOrf; who was a famous singer
and with her the boy Travelled muck in
England and on the Continent, going to
school in England and in Germany. When
he was old enough they tried to make
a business man of him, but nature had
destined him for a more beautiful and
useful end. He had a passion t1r acting
and also one for painting. Finally the
first passion won, possibly because he
had inherited a fine voice and knew how
to sing. and so a job was at hand. I'm
der the management of thu once famous
D'Oyly Carte, he appeared successfully
in The SOrcerer-S Then he was the
major general in "The Pirates Of Pen
zance," Koko in 1.-THE Mikado" and he
appeared to be doomed to be a singing
comedian. Since 1886 he has been What
Is known in the modern theatre as a
star" the aCTGy who is the head Of his
own company. A good many actors who
In stock company, but Mansfield was
not one of these. He mad Oeen IecOg-
niZed as the first actor in most o. the
companies with which he had been con-
nected. He began this part of his ca
reer with Prince Karl and followed with
his famous representation of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr.. Hyde. This stage version of
StevensOn's romance was made by Rus
sell Sullivan of Boston, who had also
been In commerce in the banking house
Lee, Higginston & Co, but who was led
into the ways of literature as Mansfield
was led into the path that runs to The
frhf Az no
Mansfielfs ambition increased, and he
went to London and acted in the Ly-
ceum and Globe theatres. Henry Irving
thought highly of him, and was glad to
lend him his theatre. How m1nN di-
verse parts he played! Besides these that
have been mentioned, he played Richard
III, Beau Brummel, Don Juan, Nero. Tit
tlebat TitmOuse in Ten Thousand a
Year" Dick Dudgeon in THE Devils
Disciple Brutus in Julius Caesar" Cy-
ranO de Bergerac, Captain Bluntschi in
Arms and the Man." Arthur Dimmes-
dale in 1.-THE Scarlet Letter. Shyloek,
Beaucaire, Karl Heinrich in "OlG Heidel-
berg" the Gar Ivan in Ivan the Ter
rible," Alceste in Moliere's THE Nissan
thrope," Ibsens Peer Gynt, King Henry
Fifth. He tried to play a new part every
year, and some years he played more
than one. He lived wholesomely. In the
first years of his career he was some
times hungry and hopeless. but his am
bition kept him warm. In the later years
ne ndu money enough Tor several homes
and for luXuries. He had d house on
Riverside Drive in New York, and a
summer place at New London, Conn. to
which he was carried in his last days,
and where he died. He was noted wit,
a wit that sometimes stung as well as
pleased He did not like thriftiess, Idle
and dissolute people, and these have told
uncomplimentaTy stories of him. He was
not snob, but he lived he could af-
ford, and he liked intellectual and mu-
steal people. He had as much If not
more, talent for painting than Joseph
Jefferson, but he could not fish so well,
nor was he so gentle in other respects.
He could play on a number of musical
instruments, and he had the gift of
tongues. His wife was Miss Beatrice
Cameron, whose real name was Susan
Hegeman, and who was his leading lady
before her marriage, and remained so TN
III 1885 She and her son survive him
Now that Mansfield is dead we may all
unite In agreeing that he was a distin-
guished and often a satisfying actor and
that he was one of the ornaments of the
stage One of the tributes to him is the
revival and the attribution to him of
the time honored old chestnuts of the
footiights that have for so many genera
tions done duty in the obituaries of such
Irving.