Adams, Edwin

Adams, Edwin (1834–77), actor. Born in Medford, Massachusetts, he made his debut in Boston in 1853 in The Hunchback, then worked in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, serving some of his apprenticeship under Joseph Jefferson and E. A. Sothern. Adams's first important New York appearance was in 1862, playing Clifford in Kate Bateman's production of The Hunchback. With her company he also essayed Charles Surface in The School for Scandal and Macduff in Macbeth. He began to tour on his own as a star in 1864—he jokingly called himself a “war star”—but met with ill luck when he was booked to open at Ford's Theatre in Washington two nights after Lincoln's assassination. His playing caught the eye of Edwin Booth, who selected Adams to play opposite him at the opening of Booth's Theatre in 1869, playing Mercutio to Booth's Romeo and Iago to Booth's Othello. The Times savaged his performance as Iago, stating, “It is certainly Mr. Adams' worst interpretation. He is utterly deficient in subtlety and guile.” That same year Adams gave his first New York performance as Enoch Arden, who returns home after being written off as dead, a role he returned to regularly and with which he is most identified. His last performance was as Iago in San Francisco, playing opposite John McCullough. Sothern gave a number of benefits to provide for young Adams's widow. Jefferson praised Adams for “the animation of his face, the grace of his person, and, above all, the melody of his voice . . . a born actor, a child of nature if not of art, swayed by warm impulse rather than premeditation.”