Weedon Grossmith

As an actor, he specialised in comedy roles, and his typical characters, harassed and scheming, became so identified with him that the "Weedon Grossmith part" became a regular feature of the theatre of his day.

[1] Grossmith was educated at Massingham House on Haverstock Hill in Hampstead, and then at the North London Collegiate in Camden Town and Simpson's School, a local private establishment.

He was shunned by managers who had promised him work, but on the strength of his American successes he was engaged by Henry Irving in 1888 to play Jacques Strop at the Lyceum Theatre in Charles Selby's Robert Macaire.

[6] His earliest notable success was made in A Pantomime Rehearsal,[8] a short play (parodying incompetent amateur theatricals) with which he was associated for many years.

[7] In the following year he began a long association with the Court Theatre; he appeared there in Aunt Jack, The Cabinet Minister and The Volcano.

[7] He also played in The School for Scandal at the Globe Theatre (1889) and portrayed Joseph Lebanon in Arthur Wing Pinero's Cabinet Minister (1890).

After a shaky start, the production became a huge success; Grossmith appeared in it for more than 700 performances, in four different West End theatres, and he later calculated that Sebastian Smith as the leading man must have played the part about 1,000 times in London and on tour.

He became known for playing comedy character roles, noting, "I am almost invariably cast for cowards, cads and snobs", and he was particularly good at portraying harassed, misunderstood little men as, like his brother George, he was small in stature.

[8] The critic B. W. Findon[9] wrote, "Among the survivors of the old brigade – of the artists who thoroughly understand the requirements of farcical comedy, who know how to treat its humour with breadth, and grapple successfully with its ludicrous situations – is Mr. Weedon Grossmith.

The book is a sharp analysis of social insecurity, and Charles Pooter of The Laurels, Brickfield Terrace, Holloway, was immediately recognized as one of the great English comic characters.

He also wrote a number of plays, the most successful of which was The Night of the Party (1901), for which he also directed, acted the lead role, designed the scenery and painted the advertising poster.