Edwin Hunter Pendleton Arden (February 4, 1864 – October 2, 1918) was an American

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, theatre manager, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Biography

Arden was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, to Mary Berkley Hunter and Arden Richard Smith. After a common-school education he travelled west and worked in a number of different jobs, including as a mine-helper, cowboy, railroad brakeman, clerk, reporter, and theatre manager. In 1882, he made his debut as an actor with Thomas W. Keene's Shakespeare company. The next year, he married Keene's daughter Agnes Eagleson Keene. Their only child, daughter Mildred Arden, also became an actor. Around this time, he wrote several plays, including ''The Eagle's Nest'', ''Raglan's Way'', ''Barred Out'', and ''Zorah''. He worked with a number of theatrical companies over the next thirty years, performing in such works as

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...

's '' L'Aiglon'',

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 1831 – 8 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-c ...

's ''

Fédora ''Fédora'' is a play by the French author Victorien Sardou. It opened at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris on 11 December 1882,Noël, Edouard and Philippe StoulligLes Annales du théâtre et de la musique, 1882 p. 245 and ran for 135 perfor ...

'', and in an all-star production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York. In his later years, he had his own stock

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

"Edwin Arden Drops Dead." ''New York Times'', Oct 3, 1918, p. 13 He starred in silent films such as '' The Beloved Vagabond'' (1915).

Partial filmography

* ''

The Exploits of Elaine ''The Exploits of Elaine'' is a 1914 American Serial (film), film serial in the damsel in distress genre of ''The Perils of Pauline (1914 serial), The Perils of Pauline'' (1914). ''The Exploits of Elaine'' tells the story of a young woman named ...

'' (1914) * '' The New Exploits of Elaine'' (1915) * '' The Beloved Vagabond'' (1915) * '' The Iron Heart'' (1917) * '' Ruling Passions'' (1918) * '' Virtuous Wives'' (1918)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Johnson, Allen, editor. ''Dictionary of American Biography'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964) *
Obituary
in ''Baltimore News''

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Edwin 19th-century American male actors American male stage actors American dramatists and playwrights Writers from Missouri Writers from Washington, D.C. Male actors from St. Louis Male actors from Chicago Male actors from Washington, D.C. 1864 births 1918 deaths Male actors from New York City