Home › W › Wallack (JAMES WILLIAM an American)

Wallack (JAMES WILLIAM an American)

JAMES WILLIAM, an American actor; born in London, England, Aug. 24, 1795; began his professional career as Laërtes to Elliston's "Hamlet" in 1813; and in 1816 appeared as Iago to Edmund Kean's "Othello." He came to the United States in 1818, and on Sept. 7 made his first appearance in New York City in the Park Theater as "Macbeth." He became stage manager of the Drury Lane Theater in 1820; opened the National Theater in New York City and managed it till it was destroyed by fire in 1839; opened Wallack's Lyceum in 1852 and in 1861 built Wallack's Theater in New York City. He died in New York City, Dec. 25, 1864.