Richard Burbage, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Richard Burbage

English actor and theatre owner

Date of Birth: 06-Jan-1567

Place of Birth: London

Date of Death: 13-Mar-1619

Profession: actor, stage actor

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


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About Richard Burbage

  • Richard Burbage (6 January 1567 – 12 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time.
  • In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, entrepreneur, and painter.
  • He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage.
  • They were both actors in drama.
  • Burbage was a business associate and friend to William Shakespeare. The son of James Burbage, a joiner who became a theatrical impresario and entrepreneur, also founded the first theatre.
  • Burbage was a popular actor by his early 20s.
  • He excelled in plays with the theme of tragedies.
  • His early acting career is poorly documented.
  • As many young actors of his time, he may have played the part of women in productions before taking any of the roles he is known for.
  • It has been suggested that he spent time working with the Earl of Leicester's company, but there is no good evidence for this.
  • He was probably acting with the Admiral's Men in 1590, with Lord Strange's Men in 1592, and with the Earl of Pembroke's Men in 1593; but most famously he was the star of William Shakespeare's theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, which became the King's Men on the ascension of James I in 1603.
  • He played the title role in the first performances of many of Shakespeare's plays, including Hamlet, Othello, Richard III, and King Lear.
  • But he was in great demand and also appeared in the plays of many of the great contemporary writers, such as Ben Jonson (the title role in Volpone, and Subtle in The Alchemist), John Marston (The Malcontent), John Webster (The Duchess of Malfi) and Beaumont and Fletcher (The Maid's Tragedy). Burbage was described as being short and stout, but was said to be an impressive figure, with numerous praises written of him in contemporary accounts.
  • His power and scope as an actor is revealed in the sheer size of the roles he played.
  • He was a great box office draw.
  • Of the hundreds of plays and thousands of roles for actors that date from the 1580–1610 era, there are only twenty or so roles that are longer than 800 lines.
  • Edward Alleyn was the first English actor to manage such roles, in Marlowe's Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta; but the majority of these star roles, thirteen of the twenty, were acted by Burbage.
  • He was said to be quite rich because he was earning income from being the primary housekeeping of two playhouses, a sharer in the King's Men, a lead actor and a painter.

Read more at Wikipedia

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