Alexander, George (Sir)

1858

1918

Born George Alexander Gibb Samson in 1858, he first acted in London in 1881 and by the end of that year was associated with Irving’s company at the Lyceum, playing Caleb Deecie in a revival of “Two Roses”. After eight years with Irving, Alexander took up management on his own, producing over 80 plays at the St James’s Theatre, especially encouraging English dramatists at a time when adaptation of French farces was the predominant fare in the West End. In 1906 he presented Pinero’s “His House in Order”, described as the most typical of the St James’s plays. But he also produced plays by Shakespeare, Wilde and the verse dramatist Stephen Phillips. Handsome and charming, Alexander was the epitome of the stage leading man. Perhaps his greatest success was in the dual roles of Rudolph and the King in Edward Rose’s “The Prisoner of Zenda” (adapted from Anthony Hope’s novel), first produced at the St James’s on 7 January 1896. Brough painted him in that role in 1902 (7). Other important roles included Vilon in “If I Were King”, Karl Heinrich in “Old Heidelberg” and John Worthing in “The Importance of Being Earnest”. He became a member of the Garrick Club in 1886 and was knighted in 1911. He died in 1918, of diabetes. A. E. W. Mason’s biography, “Sir George Alexander and the St. James’s Theatre”, was published in 1935.