John Drew

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Drew, John (1853–1927), actor. Like his namesake father, his familiarity with theatre made him decide to look elsewhere for work, but a brief stint as a clock salesman for a department store in his native Philadelphia proved so boring that he reluctantly agreed to go on stage. Drew made his debut at his mother's Arch Street Theatre in 1873 and continued to act there for two seasons, until Augustin Daly spotted him and invited him to New York. His New York bow was as the seemingly impecunious suitor Bob Ruggles in The Big Bonanza (1875). He remained with Daly for many years, earning particular renown as a high comedian after the producer formed his second company in 1879. Among his great successes with the ensemble was his Petruchio. Of his performance one critic wrote, “His acting was consistently vigorous, and his speech, as usual, flawless.” But it was as a polished gentleman—a roué, a blasé prince, or an avuncular guardian—in the era's drawing room comedies that he was best known. When Drew moved from Daly to Charles Frohman, the striking‐looking actor, with the large, heavy‐lidded eyes and a drooping black moustache, continued in similar parts, mostly in works now long‐forgotten. In 1908 he played the title role in Somerset Maugham's Jack Straw, prompting the Times to exclaim, “John Drew at fifty, reveling like a boy, full of the spirit of juvenile lightheartedness, is an agreeable sight to see.” Among his last appearances were Maugham's The Circle (1921), The School for Scandal (1923), and Trelawny of the Wells (1925 and 1927). He was the uncle of Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and John Barrymore. Autobiography: My Years on the Stage, 1922.