Walter Hampden

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > Theater: Biographies

Hampden [Dougherty], Walter (1879–1955), actor. Although born in Brooklyn and educated at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and at Harvard, he served his theatrical apprenticeship with F. R. Benson's company in England, learning a wide range of Shakespearean parts. His American debut came in 1907 when he played opposite Alla Nazimova as Comte Silvio in The Comtesse Coquette, Halvard Solness in The Master Builder, and Dr. Rank in A Doll's House. Success then followed in more commercial ventures, notably as Manson, the reincarnation of Jesus, in The Servant in the House (1908); as gubernatorial hopeful George Rand Jr. in The City (1909); and as miner John Rawson in Good Gracious Annabelle (1916). In the 1920s Hampden starred in a number of Shakespearean revivals, offering his Marc Antony, Hamlet, Romeo, Macbeth, Shylock, and Othello, but had even greater success with two 19th‐century classics, Cyrano de Bergerac and Richelieu, two roles he continued to revive for many years. He was an important member of the American Repertory Theatre in the mid‐1940s, playing Cardinal Wolsey in Henry VIII and Charles Venable in What Every Woman Knows. His last Broadway appearance was as the bigoted Deputy‐Governor Danforth in The Crucible (1953). A tall, slim, handsome man, he was an advocate of the older, romantic school of acting and fortunate that in his prime years an audience still existed for his style of play and performance.