Cooke, George Frederick

1756?

1812

One of the greatest acting talents of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, George Frederick Cooke told his biographer Dunlap that he was born on 17 April 1756, but his birth may have been three years earlier. Though he was probably from Westminster, some sources say Berwick or Dublin. In any case, as a youngster he was drawn to the stage, and by the early 1770s he was acting in Berwick. His first appearance as a professional there was as Dumont in “Jane Shore” in the spring of 1776. He was a strolling player in 1777 and made his London debut, as Castalio in “The Orphan”, at the Haymarket Theatre on 9 April 1778. Following that he was seen, but hardly noticed, as Modely in “The Country Lasses” and Lovewell in “The Clandestine Marriage”. In May and June he acted with the company at the China Hall Theatre in Rotherhithe, playing a variety of small and large roles in comedies and tragedies. Cooke returned to the Haymarket in 1779 and toured with several companies during the 1780s, finding Manchester a useful home base but appearing also at Newcastle, York (with Tate Wilkinson’s company), Sheffield, Chester and Liverpool – all northern towns where he established a reputation for exciting acting and heavy drinking. By 1794 he had built a repertoire of major characters, chiefly in serious works, among them Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” (G0133), Hamlet, Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew”, Joseph Surface in “The School for Scandal”, Macbeth, and Richard III (G0128, G0130, G0132, 957 [now known to be an engraving and catalogued as P0309]) ) Apparently reluctant to test himself in a major London theatre, he went instead to Dublin, appearing first as Othello on 19 November 1794 at the Crow Street Theatre under the poor management of Richard Daly. The weakness of Daly’s troupe was an excuse for Cooke’s leaving Crow Street in March 1795, but his own bouts of drunkeness were really to blame, and he disappeared from all stages for a year. In the late 1790s Cooke resumed his career – at Manchester, Chester, Dublin (at the new Fishamble Street Theatre) – and, finally, in the autumn of 1800 at Covent Garden Theatre in London at £6 weekly, beginning with Richard III on 31 October. Thomas Harris, the manager, mounted a new production for the occasion, and Cooke, aware of the importance of this opportunity, gave a performance that demonstrated his talent at its best and drew exceptionally detailed reviews. especially in “The Monthly Mirror”: Cooke ‘seems to possess an active and capacious intellect, with a profound knowledge of the science of ACTING. He has read and thought for himself. He appears to have borrowed neither from contemporary nor deceased excellence. He sometimes passes over what have been usually conceived to be great points in the character and he exalts other passages into importance …’ On 10 November he brought the same kind of fresh approach to Shylock, and on the thirteenth he showed off his talent at comedy as Sir Archy Macsarcasm in “Love à la Mode” (G0129), in both of which roles he invited comparison with Charles Macklin, who years before had dared to bring to the London stage new approaches to standard characters. Cooke’s first season at a major London theatre must have helped him control his drinking, and in the summer of 1801 he toured to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester, where he was welcomed as a returning hero. By 1802-3 his salary at Covent Garden was over £14, and he remained there through 1809-10, spending his summers touring, as he had previously. But after his great success in 1800-1 he gradually deteriorated, missing performances and having to apologize to his audiences for his inebriation. Cooke was able to get an engagement in America, making his debut in New York as Richard III on 21 November 1810 and playing also in Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Providence. He was the first really great English actor to appear in America, and the excitement surrounding his season was