Conway, William A[ugustus] (1789–1828), actor. A handsome but thin‐skinned performer, he came to America after his Hamlet was faulted by London critics and made his American debut in the same part in 1824. His reception was such as to convince him to remain in America, and he followed Hamlet with equally well‐received interpretations of Coriolanus, Romeo, Petruchio, Jaffier in Venice Preserved, and Othello, the last two with Thomas Abthorpe Cooper. For all the critical praise, Conway was never more than moderately popular. As a result he increasingly had to resort to joint engagements with other prominent actors. T. Allston Brown observed, “Conway was six feet four inches high, well proportioned, and possessed great muscular power, and a masterly command of his countenance, which seemed to have been formed to express the passions of his soul and to delineate the characters of Shakespeare.” He left the stage to devote himself to religion, but later committed suicide by jumping from a ship in Charleston harbor.

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