Beerbohm (cat)
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Beerbohm ( – 21 March 1995) was a cat that resided at the
Gielgud Theatre The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 986 seats on three levels. The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...
in London. He was born in the theatre, which was then named the Globe, and was named after actor and theatre manager
Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
. He became renowned for attacking props and wandering into the actors' dressing rooms. Beerbohm came to public attention when he wandered across the stage during a 1978 performance by
Hinge and Bracket Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket were characters devised by George Logan and Patrick Fyffe for their comedy and musical act. Hinge and Bracket were elderly, intellectual female musicians; in these personae the male Logan and Fyffe play ...
, a trick he repeated throughout his life. Beerbohm retired in 1991 and went to live with the theatre's master carpenter in
Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...
. After his death in March 1995 the news was carried in many national newspapers and he became the first (and so far only) cat to receive a front-page obituary in ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
''.


Biography

Beerbohm was 20 years old when he died, meaning that he was born in 1974 or 1975. According to one writer, he was born in the Globe Theatre (later renamed the Gielgud Theatre after actor and director
John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...
) in London's West End in the 1970s; however, his obituary in ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' states that he "arrived at the Globe during the run of '' Donkey's Years'' in 1976". Theatres historically maintained cats on the premises as a means of controlling vermin, but their role increased over time as actors came to see them as good-luck charms and a means of reducing stress. Beerbohm, a tabby cat, was named after
Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
, an actor and theatre manager. Beerbohm the cat soon gained a reputation for wandering into dressing rooms and attacking feathered hats and stuffed birds used as props. He came to public attention when he began a habit of wandering across the stage in the middle of productions. Beerbohm's first appearance was during a performance of the '' Hinge and Bracket Review'' in 1978. He is also said to have enjoyed entering the dressing rooms of Michael Gambon and
Peter Bowles Peter Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English television and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and ''I, Claudius''. He is however, best remembered for his roles ...
. He became known as one of the most famous of all theatre cats and counted
Paul Eddington Paul Clark Eddington (18 June 1927 – 4 November 1995) was an English actor best known for playing Jerry Leadbetter in the television sitcom '' The Good Life'' (1975–78) and politician Jim Hacker in the sitcom '' Yes Minister'' (1980–84) ...
and
Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the M ...
amongst his biggest fans. As a result of his popularity amongst actors he was mentioned several times on the BBC Radio programme ''
Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...
''. Beerbohm is said to have once been addicted to chocolate (a dependence he successfully overcame) and to have survived being run over by a car on the streets of Soho. He was said to have had a girlfriend at the Lyric Theatre whom he would rush off to see frequently. Beerbohm's career is said to be the longest of any modern-day theatre cat and lasted until his retirement in 1991, when he went to live with Tony Ramsey, the theatre's master carpenter, in
Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...
. Beerbohm died on 21 March 1995, aged 20,Ronald C. Martin
"Beerbohm"
''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', 30 March 1995, p. 36. Retrieved via the British Newspaper Archive on 11 October 2018.
and became the only cat ever to receive a front-page obituary in ''
The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
''. In addition to Hinge and Bracket, Eddington, and Keith, actress
Beryl Reid Beryl Elizabeth Reid, (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996), was a British actress of stage and screen. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for ''The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performan ...
also contributed anecdotes to his obituary. His death was covered by most national newspapers of the time, including ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' which reported that "he never married". His portrait hangs in the foyer of the Gielgud Theatre and he has been the subject of a painting by Frances Broomfield.


See also

* List of individual cats


References

{{Reflist 1995 animal deaths Cats in art Individual cats in England