de Bar, Ben(edict)

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

de Bar, Ben[edict] (1812?–77), actor and manager. A pioneering theatre figure, he was born in London to parents of French background and settled in New Orleans in 1834. A year later he made his acting debut at that city's St. Charles Theatre as Sir Benjamin Backbite in The School for Scandal. At the time, De Bar was slim and handsome enough (with attractive blue eyes and a round, boyish face) to assume roles such as Mazeppa, albeit from the start he excelled as a comedian. Two years later he joined J. W. Wallack's company at the National in New York. Although he subsequently played several seasons in New York, he preferred what was then known as “the Western circuit”—the cities along or near the Mississippi. He eventually bought out theatre interests in New Orleans and St. Louis and thereafter commuted by riverboat between the two cities, running playhouses and acting. In his later years De Bar grew quite corpulent, so Falstaff became his most celebrated role.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "de Bar, Ben(edict)." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "de Bar, Ben(edict)." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-deBarBenedict.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "de Bar, Ben(edict)." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-deBarBenedict.html

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