Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-19
ACTOR HAS PLAYED
FOUR HUNDRED PARTS

XET lillian LACKAYE, the star of
Nv THE Bondman,' has acted
w about four hundred charac-
ters in plays ranging from knock
about song and dance farce to Snake
speare and Ibsen, and apart from
those played as the head or his own
company. in support of stars as far op-
posed in aim as Barry and Fay at one
end and Lawrence Barrett and Mrs.
Fiske at the other. One of his earliest
roles was that of the Irish lawyer,
John Mandamus, in the old Celtic dia-
lect farce of Irish Aristocracy,"
known sometimes as "Muldoon'S Pic
nic" in which he acted with William
Barry and Hugh Fay two popular
mines Of the harp" variety genera
ton ago.
That was after Mr.. Lackaye's
thoughts had been turned from the
church and the law to the stage. He
was born in London county, Louisi-
ana; he studied for two years at OF
tawa, Quebec. and four years at
Georgetown university, Washington,
d. c., and was on his way to Rome.
having received the nomination for
the propaganda, when he stopped in
New York city to see a performance of
Mrs. Burnett's play of "Esmeralda."
That experience changed the bent of
his ambition, and returning to Wash
ington he took up the study of law,
incidentally allying himself with a
society of amateur actors. His stage
career really began when he obtained a
position with Lawrence Barrett and
acted with him in his repertoire.
Mr.. Lackaye next appeared with
Carrie Swain, a popular soubrette of
the sos, and then got part in Nay
Blossom" one of the earliest plays
credited to David Belasco as author.
The season of 1S86-S7 found him a MEM
ber of the company of Fanny Daven-
port, then at the height of her great
popularity He acted with her in "Fe-
DORA" Much Ado About Nothing
and LAS You Like IT.
He acted the principal role in the
autumn of 1887 in Admiral David Por-
ter's unsuccessful play of "Alan Dare"
Then followed hits in William Gillette's
dramatization of H. Rider Haggard's
novel of "She" as Leo; in the late
Steele Mackaye's play of Paul Kau-
var" in support of the late Joseph Ha-
worth, and in Charles Coghlan's play
of "Joceyn' in support of Rose Cogh-
Ian.
What may be set down as Mr.. Lack
ayes first marked hit, insomuch that
it gave the critics and the public alike
positive proof of his uncommon versa
tility was made in the spring of 1889,
when he acted the role of an erratic
and amorouS Portuguese nobleman,
Don Stephano. in support of Mrs.
Fiske then Minnie Maddern, in James
Albery's farce of "Featherbrain." That
was the last play put on by Mrs. Fiske
preceding her long period of retirement,
until 1895, when she re-emerged under
her marriage name.
Mr.. Lackaye next acted in the first
arIy 81 Of ssChona nd n -
then as Gilchrist in the play made from
the once-popular novel Of 'Bootle's
Baby" and then, passing under Au-
gustin Daly's management, as De Noir-
vile, in Roger la Honte," in support
of Jessie Millward and the late Will
lam Terries, whom Daily brought here
in 1889 as co-stars, and The O'Donnell
Don, in the farce of 1.-The Great I'm
known" as n member of Dalys COM
edy company, acting therein with Ada
Rehan, the late Mrs. G.. H. Gilbert,
John Drew and the late James Lewis
His success as The O'Donnell Don was
not quite to Dalys liking, inasmuch as
it was tradition of the company that
first honors should always go to the
big four" as Drew, Lewis, Miss Re-
han and Mrs. Gilbert were called
Lackaye and DAILY quarreled when the
parts for AS You Like IT. were given
out, LdCkaye ASKING lOT JdCQueSs anu
DAILY profforing him oliver, and they
parted.
my Jack" Colonel Tom" "The
Dead Heart" with James O'Neil;
Money Mad" "The Canuck," with Nc
Kee Rankin 1.-THE Power of the Press"
"The Pembertons." "Pompadour," with
Sadie Martinot; Doctor Bill" in the
title role for the New York city run.
1890; Mr.. Wilkinson's Widows" and
sflT x~I hot foI-
lowed and then came "Aristocracy," in
which Mr.. Lackaye was the virtual star
of cast that included William Fav-
ersham, Viola Allen and Blanche
Walsh.
He played under A. M. Palmer in
Lady Windermere's Fan" New
Blood and "The New Woman" and
then got the title role of "The District
Attorney" one of Charles Klein's ear
lier plays. He gave that up on short
notice to take Svengali in "Trilby,
first given in Boston in the spring of
1895.
Mr.. Lackaye's chief roles since then
have been Reb Shemuel in ZangwilPs
"Children of the Ghetto" in which he
was successful in both this country and
England; Sir Lucius O'Trigger in The
Rivals" with Joseph Jefferson; Petro-
MUS in "Quo Vadis"; Tom in William
A. Brady's famous all-star revival in
1901 of "Uncle Toms Cabin; Brinker
in "a Modern Magdalen,' with Amelia
Bingham with whom he appeared in
''The Frisky Mrs. Johnson also; Cur
tis Jadwin in "The Pit" in which he
starred for three years. the guilty ship
builder in Ibsen's pillars of Society"
in a special production of the play made
for him by Mr.. Brady; Jean Vatican
in his own play from Hugo's ''Les Mis-
erables." called THE Law and the
Man, and Jason in "The Bondman