Charles Macklin (26 September 1690 – 11 July 1797), originally Cathal MacLochlainn, was an actor and dramatist born in Culdaff, a village on the scenic Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. He was one of the most distinguished actors of his day, equally in tragedy and comedy. He gained his greatest fame in the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
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As a youth he was an active swimmer and boxer; the latter activity was alleged to have made him even uglier than he was naturally.
He spent his early manhood as an itinerant actor in troupes travelling around Britain; his thick Ulster accent was an obstacle to success. He was acting at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1725; he eventually achieved a place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1733. He soon left his accent and the Roman Catholicism of his mother behind, joining the Anglican church of his father.
Macklin resisted playing Shylock as a comic figure, as had been done for half a century; he prepared for his role in an almost Stanislavskian manner, researching Italian Jews like a modern method actor. He debuted on 14 February 1741 in a production that returned to Shakespeare's original text. His Shylock catapulted him from obscurity into one of the most famous actors of his time. King George II saw the production and was so moved he couldn't fall asleep that night. Together with David Garrick, his student, friend, and partner, Macklin revolutionized acting in the 18th century. Garrick and Macklin would eventually have a falling out in the mid 1740s which would derail Macklin's rise, but propel Garrick's own career. Macklin, then the stage manager at Drury Lane, participated in an actor walk out. When the actor's, led by Garrick, were forced to accept the owner's terms they had to abandon Macklin, who, as the stage manager, should have quelled the actors' boycott not participated in it. The actors, headed by Garrick, were forced to accept this. Macklin, a man who had been indicted homicide, felt betrayed by Garrick and the other actors.
He played the role for nearly the next fifty years, as well as Iago in Othello and the Ghost in Hamlet. In Ben Jonson's Volpone, he played the part of Mosca. He was the creator of Sir Pertinax Macsycophant, a famous burlesque character; and he was Macbeth at Covent Garden in 1772, in a production with authentic Scottish costumes.
Macklin claimed to have such a good memory that he could recite any speech after reading it through once. As a challenge to this, Samuel Foote wrote him The Great Panjandrum, a short passage designed to be particularly difficult to memorize. (The word Panjandrum has since passed into the English language.)
He wrote many plays, some failures, and some successful comedies, like Love a la Mode (1759), The School for Husbands, or The Married Libertine (1761), and The Man of the World (1781). The True-Born Irishman (1763) was a hit in Ireland, and a flop in England.
He married his former mistress, Ann Grace, in 1739. Their daughter, Mary Macklin (ca. 1734 – 1781), was a well-known actress in her own era. His wife died in December 1758; he married again the next year, to an Elizabeth Jones.
In 1735 Macklin quarrelled with a fellow actor named Hallam and accidentally killed the man by thrusting his cane through Hallam's eye. He was tried for murder, conducted his own defense, and won an acquittal. Macklin lived a tempestuous life, often involved in lawsuits; sometimes acting as his own lawyer as he had in his murder trial, and sometimes winning.
He died at least a centenarian; his wife gave his birth year as 1690, making him 107 at his death, though it was probable that his wife didn't know his real birth date. It is suggested that he was born in 1710 (see tablet below).
Macklin is remembered today in his native Inishowen, where the Charles Macklin Autumn School is held each October in the village of Culdaff.
This article incorporates public domain text from : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.
Charles Macklin (September 26, 1690 – July 11, 1797), originally MacLaughlin, was an actor and dramatist born in the village of Culdaff in Inishowen, Co. Donegal, Ireland, and one of the most distinguished actors of his day, equally in tragedy and comedy. He gained his greatest fame in the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
CHARLES MACKLIN (c. 1699-1797), Irish actor and playwright, whose real name was McLaughlin, was born in Ireland, and had an adventurous youth before coming to Bristol, where he made his first appearance on the stage as Richmond in Richard III. He was at Lincoln's Inn Fields about 1725, and by 1733 was at Drury Lane, where the quarrel between the manager and the principal actors resulted in his getting better parts. When the trouble was over and these were taken from him, he went to the Haymarket, but he returned in 1734 to Drury Lane and acted there almost continuously until 1748. Then for two seasons he and his wife (d. c. 1758), an excellent actress, were in Dublin under Sheridan, then back in London at Covent Garden. He played a great number of characters, principally in comedy, although Shylock was his greatest part, and Iago and the Ghost in Hamlet were in his repertory. At the end of 1753 Macklin bade farewell to the stage to open a tavern, near the theatre, where he personally supervised the serving of dinner. He also delivered an evening lecture, followed by a debate, which was soon a hopeless subject of ridicule. The tavern failed, and Macklin returned to the stage, and played for a number of years in London and Dublin. His quick temper got him into constant trouble. In a foolish quarrel over a wig in 1735 he killed a fellow actor in the green-room at Drury Lane, and he was constantly at law over his various contracts and quarrels. The bitterest of these arose on account of his appearing as Macbeth at Covent Garden in 1772. The part was usually played there by William Smith, and the public would not brook a change. A few nights later the audience refused to hear Macklin as Shylock, and shouted their wish, in response to the manager's question, to have him discharged. This was done in order to quell the riot. His lawsuit, well conducted by himself, against the leaders of the disturbance resulted in an award of £600 and costs, but Macklin magnanimously elected instead that the defendants should take too in tickets at three benefits - for himself, his daughter and the management. He returned to Covent Garden, but his appearances thereafter were less frequent, ending in 1789, when as Shylock, at his benefit, he was only able to begin the play, apologize for his wandering memory, and retire. He lived until the 11th of July 1797, and his last years were provided for by a subscription edition of two of his best plays, The Man of the World and Love in a Maze. Macklin's daughter, Mary Macklin (c. 1 7341 7 81), was a well-known actress in her day.
See Edward A. Parry, Charles Macklin (1891).
Categories: M-MAE | Actors | Dramatists and playwrights
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