Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Sir George Alexander (George Samson) (1858-1918), Actor and theatre manager

Actor and theatre manager; born George Alexander Gibb Samson 19 June 1858 in Reading. Worked as clerk in London firm of drapers, c.1873–8, while acting in amateur theatricals; toured with a professional company from 1879; London breakthrough 1881, as Freddy Butterscotch in The Guv’nor; was hired by Sir Henry Irving for the Lyceum the same year, remaining with that company (with breaks) until 1889; married Florence Jane Théleur 1882, a forceful helpmate; in November 1890 ‘he signed the lease for the St. James’ Theatre … installed electric light there, reupholstered the seats, and became definitely that object of so much debate, an actor-manager’; [1] appeared in more than sixty full-length productions, in which he was often (but not necessarily) cast to star, including brilliant new plays such as Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892); The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895; and revived 1909); performed a wildly successful double act in The Prisoner of Zenda (1896); sat on London County Council 1907–13 and on various charitable committees; knighted 1911; retired June 1917; died of tuberculosis and diabetes 16 March 1918 at Chorleywood, Hertfordshire.

His acting style has been described thus: ‘Mannerisms? Well, yes! A twist of the mouth, a bending of the knees – those were his as other actors have others, and they would become accentuated, if he was harassed, or his part was not strenuous.’ [2] As an actor-manager, ‘he used the St. James’ Theatre. He threw open its doors to any kind of play. He never insisted that his part should be the best. He was willing to stand out of the cast altogether, and would have done so more often, had the authors of the plays been willing.’ [3]

Hesketh Pearson, an actor colleague, said of him:

He was handsome in a rather expressionless way; his movements were as graceful as they were decorous; his voice was genteel and admirably modulated; and he was so well dressed that men would often study his clothes before ordering their own. … He was kind, not generous; likeable, not loveable; just, not indulgent; the last man to whom you would go for sympathy, the first to whom you would go for advice. Yet that aloof manner and restrained behaviour concealed a very sensitive soul, which was revealed when he confessed to me that the older he grew the more nervous he felt at rehearsals. [4]

Carol Blackett-Ord

Footnotesback to top

[1.] A.E.W. Mason, Sir George Alexander & the St James’ Theatre, London, 1935, p.16.
[2.] Mason 1935, p.200.
[3.] Mason 1935, p.218.
[4.] H. Pearson, The Last Actor-Managers, London, 1950, pp.23-24.

Referencesback to top

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