Charles Selby
(circa 1802-1863), Actor and dramatistSitter in 2 portraits
In 1832, Charles Selby was a member of the company at the Strand Theatre, and two years later produced a farce, The Unfinished Gentleman, at the Adelphi. From the quasi-autobiographical revelations in this work it appears that Selby was self-educated, had visited Barbados, and had some nautical experience. During his thirty years as an actor and playwright Selby performed principally character parts and supplied a long series of plays, mainly farces. One of his most successful pieces was Robert Macaire (1836), a three-act melodrama that had a long life on the stage and became one of Henry Irving's stock pieces.
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