John Hare (actor)

[5] After his parents died Hare was sent by his uncle, his legal guardian, to Giggleswick School, and he was studying for the civil service examination when he was invited to take part in some amateur theatricals.

[3] As a newly married man Hare seriously considered leaving the stage in favour of more secure employment in the civil service;[5] nevertheless he wrote to the actress and manager Marie Wilton, seeking to join a new company that she was setting up at the old Prince of Wales's Theatre in London.

[5] Hare made his London debut in September 1865, playing Short, the landlord, in Naval Engagements, an old comedy by Charles Dance, given as a curtain raiser to H. J. Byron's extravaganza Lucia di Lammermoor.

The Times later commented: For the next nine years Hare remained a member of the Prince of Wales's company, appearing in a succession of Robertson's comedies and in other plays produced at the theatre.

The author was a close friend and wished to make use both of Hare's naturally boyish appearance and of his talent for impersonating elderly men, contrasting the character in youth in the first act and old age in the second.

In rehearsal, Hare struggled with playing the young romantic lead, and eventually, despite Gilbert's advice, he negotiated terms for leaving the company, and Coghlan took over his role.

[3] Since its inception in 1835 the St James's, in an unfashionable part of the West End, had acquired a reputation as an unlucky theatre, and more money had been lost than made by successive managements.

[32] Madge Kendal had the star part, but her husband's dashing army officer was also well liked, and The Morning Post praised Hare's "masterly" performance as the old colonel, giving "extraordinary zest and brilliancy" and "bring[ing] down the house in shouts of laughter and applause".

The Kendals took the main roles but the laurels went to Hare in the comparatively small part of Potter, a performance described by the writer T. Edgar Pemberton as "a masterpiece of character-acting, faultless in get-up and, indeed, in all respects.

It was regarded as daringly unconventional and a risky venture, but it caught on with the public, partly for Hare's character, the "disreputable but delightful old reprobate and card-shark" Baron Croodle.

[3] Among the company in these years the actresses included Fanny Brough, Helen Maud Holt and the young May Whitty;[28][37] among their male colleagues were George Alexander, Allan Aynesworth, Albert Chevalier, Henry Kemble, William Terris, Brandon Thomas and Lewis Waller.

[40] Less successful productions included an English version of Sardou's melodrama La Tosca (1889) and Grundy's comedy An Old Jew (1894), both of which were taken off after short runs.

[41] Hare made his American debut in January 1896, appearing at Abbey's Theatre, New York, with a company including Julia Neilson, Charles Groves and Fred Terry, in The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith, A Pair of Spectacles, A Quiet Rubber, and Gilbert's Comedy and Tragedy.

[46] The Pall Mall Gazette said: "Mr John Hare has done few things better: dignified, courteous, urbane, he suggests with infinite tact the presence of a jeunesse orageuse.

[50] Not for the first time, Hare received better notices than the play,[51] but he thought well enough of it to take it on tour in 1904, with Hilda Trevelyan replacing Nina Boucicault in the title role.

[52] For the rest of his career Hare revived old successes, touring in America and in the provinces, and appearing in various West End theatres for occasional short seasons.

In 1907 he began what was billed as a farewell British tour; he also appeared in that year in royal command performances for Edward VII, in A Quiet Rubber at Sandringham and A Pair of Spectacles at Windsor Castle.

His naturalistic style avoided the formality of the older English stage and suggested character by "tricks of deportment and facial expression that complete or illuminate the phrases of the author".

The same writer commented that behind Hare's art was "a personality of rare modesty and charm, that instinctively avoided exaggeration and had a genuine dislike of publicity".

[2] In The Times's view, Hare was greatly loved for his personal charm both onstage and off ("in spite of a somewhat peppery temper") and for his precise observation: Wearing writes, "The roles he tackled were memorable because of his mastery of impersonation, and he was particularly adept at expressing gentle emotions with perfect simplicity.