William Hunter Kendal (16 December 1843 – 7 November 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. He and his wife Madge starred at the Haymarket in Shakespearian revivals and the old English comedies beginning in the 1860s. In the 1870s, they starred in a series of "fairy comedies" by W. S. Gilbert and in many plays on the West End with the Bancrofts and others. In the 1880s, they starred at and jointly managed (with John Hare) the St. James's Theatre. They then enjoyed a long touring career.
Biography
Kendal was born William Hunter Grimston in London, the son of a painter. He made his first stage appearance at Glasgow in 1862 as Louis XIV, in A Life's Revenge, billed as "Mr Kendall". After some experience at Birmingham and elsewhere, he joined the Haymarket company in London in 1866, acting in everything from burlesque to Shakespeare. In 1869 he married Madge Kendal, a sister of the dramatist, T. W. Robertson. As "Mr. and Mrs. Kendal" their professional careers then became inseparable.
While Kendal played Orlando, Charles Surface, Jack Absolute and Young Marlowe, his wife made the combination perfect with her Rosalind, Lady Teazle, Lydia Languish and Kate Hardcastle; and she created Galatea in Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea (1871). Indeed, in the early 1870s, the Kendals starred in a series of "fairy comedies" by Gilbert, including Pygmalion and Galatea, The Palace of Truth, Broken Hearts and The Wicked World, and his drama Charity. They appeared for a number of seasons at the Court Theatre and at the Prince of Wales's Theatre, at the latter of which they joined the Bancrofts in Diplomacy and other plays. Then in 1879 began a long association with John Hare as joint-managers of the St. James's Theatre (until 1888) where they presented a large number of Pinero plays, among many others. Their reign there was noted for its taste, and the theatre became very fashionable again. Some of their notable successes included The Squire, Impulse, The Ironmaster, and A Scrap of Paper. In 1888, however, the Hare and Kendal partnership ended.
From that time, the Kendals chiefly toured in the provinces and in America, with an occasional season at rare intervals in London, until 1908, when they both retired. The Kendals had five children.
Kendal died, aged 76, in London.
References
- Archer, "Mr. and Mrs. Kendal", in Matthews and Hutton, Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States (New York, 1886)
- Scott, The Drama of Yesterday and To-Day (London, 1899)
- T. E. Pemberton, The Kendals: A Biography (New York, 1900)
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