Conway, Frederick B(artlett)

Conway, Frederick B[artlett] (1819–74), actor. The son of a famous English actor, he came from his native England in 1850, making his New York debut as Charles Surface, and the following night he offered a much‐admired Claude Melnotte in The Lady of Lyons. Two years later he married the Connecticut‐born Sarah Crocker (1834–75), who had made her acting debut in Baltimore in 1849 and who, as Mrs. F. B. Conway, thereafter acted regularly with her husband. Although they appeared in many popular contemporary works, the couple was best liked in classic roles. Conway's major parts included Iago, Macbeth, Sir Harcourt Courtly, Sir Peter Teazle, and Malvolio while his wife essayed Emilia, Lady Macbeth, Lady Gay Spanker, Lady Teazle, and Viola. Conway briefly managed the Metropolitan Theatre in New York, but Mrs. Conway proved a better and more durable manager, assuming leadership of Brooklyn's Park Theatre in 1864. Under her aegis it was Brooklyn's principal playhouse and remained so until she left it to assume management of the new Brooklyn Theatre, which she ran until her death. T. Allston Brown, after noting briefly that Conway was “a good ‘all 'round’ actor” and “the best John Mildmay in ‘Still Waters Run Deep’ ever seen on the American stage,” wrote of Mrs. Conway, “She was gifted with an intellect of strong analytic power, sufficient to fit out half a dozen leading ladies. She had a fine, expressive face, a voice full and melodious, a carriage graceful and womanly.” Their daughters, Minnie and Lillian, were also popular performers.