Charles Macklin
(1699?-1797), Actor-manager and dramatistEarly Georgian Portraits Catalogue Entry
Sitter in 13 portraits
Charles Macklin was an Irish actor and playwright whose distinguished, though turbulent, career spanned most of the eighteenth century. Macklin first appeared as an actor at Bristol and in 1725 went to Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. He went to Drury Lane Theatre in 1733 and later was involved in its management. In 1735 he killed another actor in the greenroom over a dispute about a wig, but, although prosecuted, he received no sentence. He set the seal on his stage career at Drury Lane in 1741, when he played Shylock, rescuing the part from the broad comedy with which it had long been surrounded. Macklin played many parts with distinction but was constantly involved in disputes and lawsuits.
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