Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (December 22, 1821 – September 17, 1883) was an American actor and theatre manager. As a member of the illustrious

Booth family The Booth family was an English American theatrical family of the 19th century. Its most known members were Edwin Booth, one of the leading actors of his day, and John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln. The patriarch was Junius Brut ...

of actors, Junius Brutus Booth Jr. was overshadowed by his father Junius Sr. and brothers

Edwin The name Edwin means "rich friend". It comes from the Old English elements "ead" (rich, blessed) and "ƿine" (friend). The original Anglo-Saxon form is Eadƿine, which is also found for Anglo-Saxon figures. People * Edwin of Northumbria (die ...

and

John Wilkes John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical journalist and politician, as well as a magistrate, essayist and soldier. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he ...

(the assassin of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

) and later by his wife Agnes, a successful actress. Booth was married three times: first briefly to Clementina De Bar, sister of comedian and theatrical manager Ben De Bar; then in California to Harriet Mace, who died giving birth to a daughter; and finally, upon returning East in 1867 and becoming manager of the Boston Theatre, to Agnes Perry (née Rookes), who thereafter was known professionally as Agnes Booth. Junius and Agnes had four children together: Junius Brutus III (1868–1912), Algernon (1869–1877), Sydney (1873–1937), and Barton (1874–1879). Only two survived to adulthood, and of those two, Junius Brutus III committed suicide in 1912. Booth managed the Boston Theatre,

Walnut Street Theatre The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnu ...

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

, and

Booth's Theatre Booth's Theatre was a theatre in New York City, New York built by actor Edwin Booth. Located on the southeast corner of 23rd Street (Manhattan), 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Sixth Avenue, Booth's Theatre opened on February 3, 1869. ...

, where his brother

was the star attraction. Though a relatively undistinguished actor, Junius Jr. was highly regarded for his performances as King John and as Cassius in ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

.'' In 1864 he performed ''Julius Caesar'' alongside his brothers

(as Brutus) and

(as Mark Antony).

Junius Brutus Booth Jr. himself was briefly imprisoned in Washington, D.C., after his brother assassinated Abraham Lincoln. At the time of the assassination, he was fulfilling an acting engagement at

Pike's Opera House Pike's Opera House, later renamed the Grand Opera House, was a theater in New York City on the northwest corner of 8th Avenue and 23rd Street, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. It was constructed in 1868, at a cost of a million dollar ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

. Booth left Cincinnati by train on April 17 and arrived in Philadelphia on April 19. Booth notified the U.S. Marshal of his presence in the city and was arrested and hurried by train to the

Old Capitol Prison The Old Brick Capitol in Washington, D.C., served as the temporary Capitol of the United States from 1815 to 1819. The building was a private school, a boarding house, and, during the American Civil War, a prison known as the Old Capitol Pris ...

, where he was interrogated and released. Booth retired in 1881 to Masconomo House in

Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1989) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 population ...

, where he died on September 17, 1883. He was buried in Manchester's Rosedale Cemetery. Although

Agnes Booth Agnes Booth (October 4, 1843 – January 2, 1910), born Marian Agnes Land Rookes, was an Australian-born American actress and in-law of Junius Brutus Booth, Edwin Booth, and – arguably the most notable – John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of A ...

remarried in 1885, she continued performing under the Booth name, and was buried next to him when she died in 1910.

References

''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'', Cambridge University Press (1995)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Junius Brutus Jr. 1821 births 1883 deaths 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors American theatre managers and producers American people of English descent American prisoners and detainees Junius Brutus Jr. Burials in Massachusetts 19th-century American businesspeople