
Henry John Wallack (1790 – 30 August 1870) was a British actor, stage manager, and brother of actor
James William Wallack
James William Wallack (c. 1794–1864), commonly referred to as J. W. Wallack, was an England, Anglo-United States, American actor and Actor-manager, manager, born in London, and brother of Henry John Wallack.
Life
Wallack's father was named W ...
.
Wallack was born in London. Wallack's parents were
comedian
A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
s, who performed at the London minor playhouses and in the British provinces.
He worked in the United States, making his debut at the
Anthony Street Theatre
The Anthony Street Theatre was an early New York City theatre which operated intermittently from 1812 to 1821. It opened as the Olympic Theatre in May 1812 and had multiple names during its brief existence.
History
The theatre was converted f ...
on 9 May 1821. In America he was received as Hamlet, Sir Peter Teazle, Sir Anthony Absolute, and many other parts.
He appeared at
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...
on 26 October 1829 as Julius Caesar to his brother's Mark Antony. Subsequently, he was stage-manager at
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...
. He played the title role in Sheridan's ''
Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
Born in Trujillo, Spain, to a poor family, Pizarro chose ...
'', Lord Lovell in ''A New Way to pay Old Debts'', O'Donnell in ''Henri Quatre'', Buckingham in ''Henry VIII'', and other parts, and was on 28 November 1829 the first Major O'Simper in ''Follies of Fashion'', by the Earl of Glengall.
Family
He married 1. Frances (aka Fanny) Jones (divorced 1833) and 2. Miss Maria Turpin, an actress at the
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...
.
He and Frances, an actress, had a son James and two daughters, Julia Wallack, a vocalist, and Fanny Wallack, an actress. Julia, stage name Julia Harland, married the actor
William Hoskins in England on 24 August 1842 and moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she died on 19 August 1872.
He and Maria, a vocalist, had children, sons George, William Henry James and Augustus Charles.
Henry Wallack died in New York City on 30 August 1870.
References
External links
Drury Lane members*
DNB entry on James William Wallack (also contains some text on Henry John)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallack, Henry John
1790 births
1870 deaths
Male actors from London
19th-century English male actors
English male stage actors
British expatriate male actors in the United States