Sothern, E(dward) A(skew)

Sothern, E[dward] A[skew] (1826–81), character actor. The tall, lanky performer, one of the best eccentric comedians of his era, was born in Liverpool. Using the name Douglas Stewart, he had appeared on English stages before making his American debut in Boston in 1852 as Dr. Pangloss in The Heir‐at‐Law. He joined Wallack's celebrated ensemble in 1854 and began using his real name. However, success and fame did not come until 1858, when he grudgingly accepted the part of Lord Dundreary in Laura Keene's mounting of Our American Cousin. The critic Henry Austin Clapp later recalled, “I think the funniest small thing I ever noted at a theatrical performance was his delivery of one of Dundreary's speeches in connection with Sam's ‘letter from America.’ The passage began, ‘Dear Bwother,’ Mr. Sothern reading the opening words of the epistle; then he made one of his pauses, and with a characteristic click and hitch in his voice, commented—‘Sam always calls me his bwother—because neither of us ever had a sister.’. . . the actor's voice became instantly saturated with mock pathos, and the sudden absurd demand for sympathy reached the amazed auditor with soul‐tingling effect.” Sothern soon expanded the role until it virtually dominated the play. Among his other notable parts were the title roles in a play about Dundreary's relative, Brother Sam (1862), and in David Garrick (1864), as well as the failed actor Fitzaltamont in The Crushed Tragedian (1877). Biography: A Memoir of Edward Askew Sothern, Thomas Edgar Pemberton, 1889.