Edward Hugh Sothern
Sothern, E[dward] H[ugh] (1859–1933), actor. Smaller and more handsome than his father, E. A. Sothern, he proved a versatile leading man and became one of the great Shakespeareans of his day. He was born in New Orleans and educated in England, where he planned a career as a painter. However, deciding to follow his father's profession, he made his debut in New York in 1879 as a cabman in his father's Brother Sam. He then toured with John McCullough before becoming a member of Daniel Frohman's Lyceum Theatre company. During his ten years there his many successes included the befuddled auctioneer Jack Hammerston in The Highest Bidder (1887) and the title role in Lord Chumley (1888), but his greatest success came in the dual roles of the real Prince Rudolf and his look‐alike impostor in The Prisoner of Zenda (1895). While at the Lyceum he married Virginia Harned, and the two played together for many years, including his first important Shakespearean production, Hamlet (1900). However, his fame reached its pinnacle when he co‐starred with his second wife, Julia Marlowe, in a series of Shakespearean seasons, beginning in 1904 with Romeo and Juliet. His major roles included Benedick, Shylock, Antony, and the one numerous critics felt was his best, Malvolio. Sothern continued to act occasionally after Marlowe retired in 1924. While Ludwig Lewisohn wrote, “He speaks the verse as verse and yet as authentic human speech. He conveys an impression of complete naturalness while never slurring the iambic pattern of his text,” a surviving recording of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet suggests a lush, formal style that would not be popular today. Autobiography: The Melancholy Tale of “Me,” 1916.
