Hodgkinson, John

Hodgkinson, John [né Meadowcroft] (1767–1805), actor and manager. Son of a British farmer turned publican, he enlisted in a troupe playing in Bristol and Bath, then in 1791 wrote to Lewis Hallam Jr. and John Henry, requesting a position in their company. Hodgkinson made his American debut at Philadelphia's Southwark Theatre in 1792 as Belcour in The West Indian. William Dunlap described him as “five feet ten inches in height, but even at the period we speak of, at the age of twenty‐six, he was too fleshy to appear tall, and in a few years became corpulent. . . .His face was round, his nose broad and not prominent, his eyes gray, and of unequal sizes, but with large pupils and dark eyelashes.” Among his early roles, both in Philadelphia and in New York, were Macheath, Macbeth, Marc Antony, Bob Acres, and Jaffier. He later distinguished himself in the title role of André and as Rolla in Dunlap's version of Pizarro. His looks and fine acting won him rapid public approval, but behind the scenes he was apparently a ruthless, ambitious, and quarrelsome man, squeezing first Henry then Hallam out of their positions. However, Hodgkinson was a skilled manager, and his partnership with Hallam at the John Street Theatre resulted in several excellent seasons. He played in other cities and continued to act in New York, until he died in a yellow fever epidemic. For all his flaws, he was probably the finest actor American audiences had seen up to his time.