Actors and actresses



 

James Quin

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James Quin
Quinn, by Hogarth (1740)
© Tate Gallery, London, 2000
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David Garrick

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David Garrick
David Garrick as Ranger, Mrs Pritchard as Clorinda in Benjamin Hoadly’s The Jealous Husband
(Francis Hayman, 1747, Courtesy of the Museum of London)

David Garrick (1717-1779) made his London début in1749 and acted and managed at Drury Lane Theatre for 35 years.

He introduced a naturalistic style of playing in contrast with the exaggerated gestures and declamation of the previous period.

A writer for The Gentleman’s Magazine said of him:

“I have an Actor in my Eye whose greatest Merit is, that he is none; whose Look, whose Voice, whose Action have nothing of the Player, but so much of the person he represents”

Garrick (a member of Brook’s club and a frequent guest of Dolly’s Chop House), who also played at the theatre in Bath, was a friend of painters and was frequently painted by famous artists.

 

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David Garrick
by Hogarth, Garrick and his wife (1757), The Royal Collection © 2000 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
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David Garrick
by Gainsborough (c. 1770, National Portrait Gallery)
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David Garrick
by Reynolds Garrick and his wife (1773, National Portrait Gallery)

 

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Sarah Siddons

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Sarah Siddons
Kemble as Macbeth, Mrs Siddons as Lady Macbeth at Drury Lane
(by Thomas Beach, 1786, The Garrick Club / The ArtArchive)
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Mrs Siddons also played at the theatre in Bath

 

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Dorothea Jordan

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Dorothea Jordan
John Hoppner Mrs Jordan as Viola at Drury Lane
(1795, The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, English Heritage)
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Dorothea Jordan
John Hoppner Mrs Jordan as Viola at Drury Lane
(1795, The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood, English Heritage)
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