Charles [Francis] Coghlan
Coghlan, Charles [Francis] (1842?–99), actor and playwright. The brother of Rose Coghlan, he was brought from England by Augustin Daly as an addition to his company “where it had sometimes been found weak—in a leading man of distinction and personal charm.” He made his debut in Money (1876). Although he impressed critics with his Orlando and Charles Surface during the season, he seemed unable to remain with any ensemble for long. By fall 1877 he was at Palmer's Union Square Theatre, where he scored major successes as the callous Monjoye in The Man of Success and as the doomed soldier Jean Renaud in A Celebrated Case (1878). Yet the following fall he had moved to Wallack's, playing Lovelace in Clarissa Harlowe and Charles Surface to his sister's Lady Teazle. Thereafter Coghlan became Lillie Langtry's leading man in Enemies (1886). He toured in the title role of Jim, the Penman (1887), then returned to play Antony and Macbeth opposite Langtry in 1889. At the same time he wrote two plays for his sister, Jocelyn (1889) and Lady Barter (1891), and he was Lord Illingworth in Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance (1894). After a few lean seasons he won applause as Mr. Clarence, a character based on Edmund Kean, in The Royal Box (1897). Shortly before his mysterious death, he appeared as a Sidney Carton‐like figure in his own play about the French Revolution, Citizen Pierre. William Winter wrote of him, “He had a figure of rare symmetry, a handsome face. . .a voice of wide compass and sympathetic quality, and a natural demeanor of intrinsic superiority.”
