Otis Skinner

Otis Skinner 1858-1942, American actor, b. Cambridge, Mass. Skinner made his New York debut in 1879. After years as supporting player to Booth and Barrett, he toured with Augustin Daly and later with Modjeska . Enjoying a long and varied career, he won lasting fame in Kismet (1911). Skinner wrote extensively about the theater. The Last Tragedian (1939) contains his selections from Booth's correspondence.

His daughter, Cornelia Otis Skinner, 1901-79, American monologuist, actress, and author, b. Chicago, first appeared in her father's company in 1921. She won fame for her one-woman shows and original monologues. She wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (with Emily Kimbrough, 1942), the autobiographical Family Circle (1948), Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals (1962), and Madame Sarah (1967), a biography of Bernhardt.

Bibliography: See his Footlights and Spotlights (1924, repr. 1972) and Mad Folk of the Theatre (1928).

Skinner, Otis (1858–1942), actor. The son of a Cambridge, Massachusetts, minister, he made his debut at the Philadelphia Museum in 1877, then performed with the stock company at the Walnut Street Theatre for two seasons, making his first Manhattan appearance when the troupe visited New York. After playing small roles opposite Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett he spent four seasons with the famous company of Augustin Daly. In 1889 he joined Helena Modjeska and Booth to play such roles as Claudio, Bassanio, Laertes, and Macduff, later touring with Modjeska as her leading man. Skinner embarked on a career as star in 1894 and played such notable parts as the Count of Grammont in His Grace de Grammont (1894); Lanciotto in his celebrated 1901 revival of Francesca da Rimini; the swaggering bully Col. Philippe Bridau in The Honor of the Family (1908); the scampish, conniving beggar Hajj in Kismet (1911); the fun‐loving Italian Antonio Camaradonio in Mister Antonio (1916); and the doomed bullfighter Juan Gallardo in Blood and Sand (1921). Writing of Skinner's Hajj, Walter Prichard Eaton noted, “Mr. Skinner is, in this country, the man of destiny for the part—abounding energy, triumphant clarity of speech, romantic swagger, physical picturesqueness, all are his.” George Middleton characterized him as “flamboyant and scene‐filling, like rich claret running over everything.” In his later years Skinner frequently returned to his older hits, besides starring in a number of classic revivals. Alone or with his wife, Maud, he was also the author of numerous books on theatre, including Mad Folk of the Theatre (1928), One Man in His Time (1938), and The Last Tragedian (1939). Autobiography: Footlights and Spotlights, 1924.

Skinner, Otis (1858–1942), American actor, who made his first appearance on the stage in Philadelphia in 1877 and was seen in New York, at Niblo's Garden, in 1879. After some years with Edwin Booth and Lawrence Barrett he joined Augustin Daly and with him made his first appearance in London, as Romeo. For two years he toured with Modjeska, and later played Young Absolute in Sheridan's The Rivals to the Sir Anthony of Joseph Jefferson. Among his later successes were Your Humble Servant (1910) and Mr Antonio (1916), both specially written for him by Booth Tarkington; but he made his greatest and most lasting success as Hajj in Knoblock's Kismet (1911). In 1926 he appeared as Falstaff in Henry IV, Part One, and in 1928 played the same character in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Among his last appearances were Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 1931 and Thersites in Troilus and Cressida in 1933.

His daughter, Cornelia Otis Skinner (1902–79), first appeared with her father's company in 1921, and became celebrated in America as a diseuse, in which capacity she was seen in London in 1929 in The Wives of Henry VIII and other sketches.