The sun., 1919-02-01
NAT G. GOODWIN DIES
SUDDENLY IN HOTEL
General Breakdown Followed
Removal Of One of the
Actors Eyes.
PLAYED TILL LAST WEEK
Georgia Gardner, Said to Be
His Fiancee, With Him
at the End.

Nat c. Goodwin. widely known to a
generation or more OF American and
English theatregoers for his noteworthy
performances OF comedy and character
parts, died at 6 30 o'clock yesterday
morning in his bedroom in the Hotel
Claridge- Death resulted from a gen.
eral breakdown which followed an OPP
! GRAFTON for the removal Of one Of his
eyes at the Manhattan Eye, Ear and
Throat Hospital in December.
Until n week ago Mr.. Goodwin had
been playing the part of Uncle Everett
| in why Marry" on the road. After
the night performance in Baltimore a
week ago to-day the company went TO
Philadelphia. where Mr. Goodwin became
so Ill late last Saturday night that he
| told Edgar Selwyn. one OF the producers
OF why Marry" he would have to
rest for a few days. Last Sunday he
came here from Philadelphia in a weak
ened condition, but It was not thought
until Thursday that he was in immediate
danger I: lcsth.
Actress Fiancee With Him.
His physician was with him through
out Thursday night and until he died. BY
| his bedside also when the end came was
Miss Georgia Gardner OF Los Angeles.s
ali actress, who according TO Broadway
reports yesterday was engaged to be
married to Mr.. Goodwin.
The actors legal residence was at 70
Forest street. Roxbury. Boston. but in
! recent years he had lived. when not play
ing ION the road" at the Claridge or
some other hotel IN the Lambs Club
neighborhood. In late years also he
had lived for considerable stretches in
| California. where he did some motion
picture work. and also for a time was
proprietor of a large restaurant at Ocean
Park
But Boston he called his real home"
He was born there on July %. 1857, and
therefore was in his sixty-second year
| when he died. He attended public
schools in Boston when a small boy and
later studied in a private school at
Pennington. Ne Then he went back
to Boston and worked for a short time
as clerk in a dry goods house. or long
| enough to save a sufficient sum to take
him to New York. where he had hopes OF
getting theatrical engagement.
His first try at the drama, however.
| got him no further than job as general
utility man in a stock company at the
! old Niblo's Garden in 1872. He had
been here only little while when he re-
turned to Boston and was engaged to
pay ms NrSt part. Inc role, tnat or a
newsy. was largely what is known as a
thinking part in the late Stuart Rob
sons production OF The Law in New
York" and 1t was in this piece that
young Goodwin made his first appear
ance, March 3. 1873 at the old Howard
Athenaum. Boston.
Faints From Stage Fright.
Not long thereafter came an engage
hat hat
ended disastrously The play was a
piece called 1.-The Bottle" and the fiedg-
ling actor came on the stage in what was
to have been his first real speaking part
one night at Providence. r. /. Stage
fright in most violent form seized Good
win as he opened his lips to speak his
| first line. His vccables failed him and
in full view of the audience he tainted
from sheer terror.
\ furious manager dragged him on
| the stage and discharged him. Back to
Boston went Nat Goodwin that night
and again he became n shop cle-A A
natural born player. however. he soon
began to appear at private" perform
| ances. where he gave readings and imita-
tons OF famous actors of the day. His
remarkable powers as a mimic and yarn
spirner--until his death he was one of
the best story tellers on or off the stage
gave him a local fame in Boston
| which soon brought him to the attention
Of theatrical men.
y professional engagement to give in
public the limitations which had so de-
| lighted more intimate Boston audiences
might be said to have been the beginning
of his career. For a Few years. or until
! 1879. he played low comedy parts in a
/ lightful way and then branched out as
| ModuS in THE Hunchbacki and as a
| GrdrediQgcr in a performance of Ham
| let produced at the Cincinnati American
| Dramatic Festival of 1883.
| Older theatre goers will rcmember him
| here in the Bijou Theatre in 1855. Five
years later he was delighting London
audiences in "A Gold Mine" The Book
! maker" and THE Nominee Shortly
! thereafter he was starred as capt, Cross
tree in BLACK Eyed Susan
Star of Many Successes.
Then on through the '9Os he was the
| star OF many SuCce sses-"Nathan STALE,
"A Gilded Fool" "Evangeline," "lu Miz-
| Zoura," David Garrick." The Rivals
| THE Cowboy and the Lady" When We
Were Twcnty-one"-in l900-and many
other notable performances,
| A few years earlier Il had como TO
| be the fashion to say of Nat Goodwin:
| He is the logical successor to Joseph
jefferson. lie continued into the new
century playing ShyI0cH IN The Mer-
| chant of Venice. Bottom in "A M!dsum-
mer Nights Dream" a starring tour in
Beauty and the Barge "Wolfville,'
The Genius" THE Master Hand and
| THE Fastener"
But his habits Of life, Carelessncss. a
| love OF cunyiviality, unusual marital
venturcs-all these things combined 10
! turn great success to comparative fall
ure No student of good acting ever
doubted his great abilities, approaching
| at times positive genius. in the rendition
of comedy roles and 1t is quite within
| the possibilities that If he had elected to
| rule his life differently he might have
| gone down in stage annals as the fore
| most comedian on the American stage.
But even in his comedy work, and par
| ticularly when he attempted the pathos
which goes hand in hand with all good
| comedy, there was a lack of sincerity
at times, especially in late years which
! mitiGated against the stupendous success
which his earlier admirers had predicted
i for him.
Also his more serious efforts suffered
| from the notoriety which his many mar
riages attached to his name First he
married Miss Eliza Weathersby. a
burlesque performer, who died in 1857.