Boniface, George C.

Boniface, George C. (1833–1912), actor. After making his theatrical debut in Baltimore in 1851, he first performed in his native New York opposite Charlotte Cushman during her 1857 repertory season. The following year he appeared in repertory with the Wallacks at the National Theatre, then in 1859 he briefly co‐managed the old Bowery Theatre, all the while assuming leading roles in now‐forgotten plays. Boniface soon switched allegiances to the competing New Bowery Theatre without surrendering his penchant for heroes of contemporary melodrama. One of his most celebrated roles was as Rudolf, the hero of the original The Black Crook (1866). Trained in a fading school of uninhibited acting, he was on occasion criticized for not bending to the requirements of new techniques of writing and performing. Thus, when he played Pygmalion in Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea (1872) the Times remarked, “He mouths in a distressing fashion, the recollection of old‐fashioned melodrama, played in an old‐fashioned way, seeming to possess his soul to the exclusion of everything else.” Nevertheless he was a popular, much sought‐after performer, rarely out of work. Among his many appearances were The Twelve Temptations (1870), The Colleen Bawn (1871), Les Misérables (1871), Kit, the Arkansas Traveller (1877), The Streets of New York (1886), Under Cover (1888), Sam'l of Posen (1894), and The Climbers (1901). His last appearance was as James Telfer in a 1911 revival of Trelawny of the Wells, a role he had created in the play's American premiere in 1898. His wife, who performed as Mrs. G. C. Boniface, his son George C. Boniface Jr., and his daughter Stella were all well known on the stage.