Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (
December 17,
1853 -
July 2,
1917) was an
English actor-manager.
Born in
London, Tree was the second son of Julius Beerbohm, a Lithuanian born businessman of German descent, and Constantia Draper
[Obituary, The Times, Tuesday, Jul 03, 1917; pg. 11]. His younger half-brother was the parodist and caricaturist
Max Beerbohm.
Educated in
Germany, he went on the stage in 1876 on his return to
England, where he was noted for his
Falstaff. By
1887 he was running the
Haymarket Theatre in the
West End of London. Ten years later, he was responsible for the construction of
His Majesty's Theatre, also in the West End. He played many of the leading roles in his own elaborate productions, which included the premiere of
George Bernard Shaw's
Pygmalion, in
1914.
He married Helen Maud Holt (
1863-
1937), who acted as Lady Tree and often played opposite him, in 1882.
Iris Tree, the poet and actress, and the actress
Viola Tree were their daughters. Tree fathered several illegitimate children, including film director
Carol Reed and Peter Reed, the father of actor
Oliver Reed.
Tree directed and starred in the earliest surviving film of an excerpt from a Shakespearean play:
King John in 1899.
He founded the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1904 and was knighted in 1909.
*
Herbert Beerbohm Tree in postcards at Shakespeare & the Players,
Emory University*
Tree archive at the Theatre Collection,
University of Bristol
