Martin-Harvey, Sir John

Martin-Harvey, Sir John (1863–1944), English actor-manager. He made his first appearance on the stage in 1881 and a year later joined Irving's company at the Lyceum, where he remained for 14 years. He left the Lyceum in 1896 to appear with other managements, notably in Maeterlinck's Pelléas and Mélisande (1898) with Mrs Patrick Campbell, but returned there as manager in 1899. His first production was the overwhelmingly successful The Only Way, a dramatization of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, in which he played the hero, Sydney Carton. He became closely identified with the part, and found himself constantly forced to revive it to satisfy the demands of the public, thus limiting the time and energy available for other and perhaps more worthwhile roles. In 1904 he played Hamlet for the first time, and he was later seen as Richard III, Henry V, and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. In 1912 he gave a magnificent performance in Reinhardt's production of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at Covent Garden. In later years he revived many of his old parts, but was also seen in new plays, among them Maeterlinck's The Burgomaster of Stilemonde (1918), and in the title-role of the old morality play Everyman in 1923. During the 1920s he toured North America, particularly Canada, with great success, and on his return to London added to his repertory two plays by Shaw, being seen in The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet in 1926 and as Richard Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple in 1930. His last appearances, up to 1939 when he retired, were mainly in revivals of his best known parts. A handsome man, with clear-cut features and a distinguished presence, he was regarded by many as the lineal descendant of Irving, and his death broke the last link with the Victorian stage. He married in 1889 the actress Angelita Helena Margarita de Silva Ferro (1869–1949), who as Nina de Silva was his leading lady for many years.