Fechter, Charles (Albert)

Fechter, Charles [Albert] (1824–79), actor. Born in London, the son of a French father of German lineage and a Flemish mother of Italian lineage, the short, hulky, bull‐necked actor was acclaimed for many years in romantic melodrama, in both Paris and London, before coming to America in 1869. After a brief tour, Fechter opened at Niblo's Garden in 1870, offering his Ruy Blas in The Duke's Motto and Hamlet. He immediately became the center of controversy. Laurence Hutton wrote, “The acting of no man, native or foreign, in the whole history of the American stage has been the subject of so much or of such varied criticism as his. There was no medium whatever concerning him in public opinion. Those who were his admirers were wildly enthusiastic in his praise; those who did not like him did not like him at all.” William Winter detested his Hamlet, noting, “His speaking of it was much marred by a sing‐song cadence, and his delivery of English blank verse, accordingly, was abominable.” Conversely, Henry Austin Clapp praised his interpretation for its “outward and visible charm, its vitality, directness, and fervid sincerity.” In later engagements he appeared as Claude Melnotte in The Lady of Lyons, as Monte Cristo, and as Obenreizer in No Thoroughfare. His Monte Cristo was performed from a dramatization he himself had prepared in collaboration with Arthur LeClercq, which James O'Neill was later to employ with even greater success. Fechter continued to perform for several seasons, making his last appearances in 1877. By that time his waning health, coupled with a reputation for arrogance that verged on madness, had lost him his audiences. He died in poverty on his farm in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Biography: Charles Albert Fechter, J. R. Osgood, 1882.