Alexander, Sir George

Alexander, Sir George [ George Alexander Gibb Samson] (1858–1918), English actor, and manager of the St James's Theatre from 1891 until his death. He made his first appearance at Nottingham in 1879 and in 1881 was seen in London. In 1890 he entered into management on his own. His tenancy of the St James's was both financially and artistically rewarding. He made his greatest success in the dual role of Rudolf Rassendyll and the King in Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda (1896), and was also much admired as Villon in Justin McCarthy's If I were King (1902) and Karl Heinrich in Bleichmann's Old Heidelberg (1903). Among his important productions were Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), in which he played John Worthing, Pinero's The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893) and His House in Order (1906), Stephen Phillips's verse-drama Paolo and Francesca (1902), and Jerome K. Jerome's The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1908). The last play in which he appeared was Louis N. Parker's The Aristocrat (1917). He was a man of distinguished appearance and great charm.