42 Facts About Ira Aldridge

Ira Frederick Aldridge was an American-born British actor, playwright, and theatre manager, known for his portrayal of Shakespearean characters.

James Hewlett and Aldridge are regarded as the first Black American tragedians.

From 1852, Ira Aldridge regularly toured much of Continental Europe and received top honours from several heads of state.

Ira Aldridge is the only actor of African-American descent honoured with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Ira Aldridge was born in New York City to Reverend Daniel and Luranah Ira Aldridge on July 24,1807, but a few early biographies state that he was born in Bel Air, Maryland.

At the age of 13, Ira Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City, established by the New-York Manumission Society for the children of free black people and slaves.

Ira Aldridge made his acting debut as Rolla, a Peruvian character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's Pizarro.

Ira Aldridge may have played the male lead in Romeo and Juliet, as reported later in an 1860 memoir by his schoolfellow, Dr James McCune Smith.

Ira Aldridge observed a common theatrical practice of assuming an identical or similar name to that of a celebrity in order to garner attention.

In May 1825, at the age of 17, Ira Aldridge first appeared on the London stage in a low profile production of Othello.

On October 10,1825, Ira Aldridge made a much more high-profile debut at London's Royal Coburg Theatre, and became the first African-American actor to establish himself professionally in a foreign country.

Ira Aldridge played the lead role of Oroonoko in The Revolt of Surinam, or A Slave's Revenge; this play was an adaptation of Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko.

An innovation Ira Aldridge introduced early in his career was a direct address to the audience on the closing night of his engagement at a given theatre.

Ira Aldridge would speak to the audience on a variety of social issues which affected the United States, Europe and Africa.

In particular, Ira Aldridge spoke on his pro-abolitionist sentiments, for which he was widely celebrated.

Ira Aldridge earned admiration from his audiences while critics emphasized Aldridge's lack of formal stage training and experience.

Ira Aldridge played major roles in plays such as The Castle Spectre and The Padlock.

In search of new and suitable material, Ira Aldridge appeared occasionally as white European characters, for which he would be made up with greasepaint and wig.

In 1828, Ira Aldridge visited Coventry while he was largely touring the English provinces.

In 1831 Ira Aldridge successfully played in Dublin; at several locations in southern Ireland, where he created a sensation in the small towns; as well as in Bath, England and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Ira Aldridge used this to his benefit and expanded African references in his biography that appeared in playbills, identifying his birthplace as "Africa" in his entry in the 1851 census.

In 1841, Ira Aldridge toured towns across Lincolnshire, performing in Gainsborough, Grantham, Spilsby, and Horncastle.

In 1842, Ira Aldridge performed in Lincoln; local newspapers reported that his arrival in a travelling coach was a remarkable sight and caused a stir with inhabitants of the city.

In 1852, Ira Aldridge chose Brussels in Belgium as the starting point of its first tour in continental and central Europe.

Ira Aldridge had particular success in Prussia, where he was presented to the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and performed for William IV of Prussia; he performed in Budapest.

Ira Aldridge introduced and increased interest in Shakespeare in some areas of Central Europe, and in Poland in particular.

Ira Aldridge purchased some property in England, toured Russia again, and applied for British citizenship.

Ira Aldridge recorded in his Memoir that she was "the natural daughter of a member of Parliament, and a man of high standing in the county of Berks", but her father was in reality a stocking-weaver from Northallerton, Yorkshire.

Aldridge's first son, Ira Daniel, was born in May 1847.

The identity of his mother is unknown, but it could not have been Margaret Ira Aldridge, who was 49 years old and had been in ill health for years.

Ira Aldridge raised Ira Daniel as her own; they shared a loving relationship until her death.

Ira Aldridge named the house 'Luranah Villa' in memory of his mother.

Ira Aldridge spent most of his final years with his family in Russia and continental Europe, interspersed with occasional visits to England.

Ira Aldridge planned to return to the post-Civil-War United States.

Ira Aldridge was buried in the city's Old Evangelical Cemetery; 23 years passed before a proper tombstone was erected.

Ira Aldridge's grave is tended by the Society of Polish Artists of Film and Theatre.

In 1856 Ira Aldridge was successfully sued by actor William Stothard, who alleged Ira Aldridge had had an affair with his wife Emma three years before, resulting in the birth of a son.

Ira Aldridge was away on tour in Ireland when the trial took place but he was heading the bill at a London theatre by the following year, indicating the scandal caused his career no lasting damage.

Ira Aldridge enjoyed enormous fame as a tragic actor during his lifetime, but after his death, he was forgotten.

The Ira Aldridge Troupe was a minstrelsy group that caricatured Irish men.

The Ira Aldridge Troupe is unique in annals of minstrelsy; it was named for a Black actor who had left his homeland some 35 years before and achieved fame in Europe.

The Ira Aldridge Troupe tried to pirate that piracy, and, in collaboration with its audience, turn minstrelsy to its own ends.