14 Facts About Otis Skinner

Otis A Skinner was an American stage actor active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Otis Skinner was later brought up in Hartford, Connecticut where Charles Skinner served as a Universalist minister.

Otis Skinner's older brother, Charles Montgomery Skinner, became a noted journalist and critic in New York, while his younger brother William was an artist.

Otis Skinner was educated in Hartford with an eye towards a career in commerce but a visit to the theater left him stage-struck.

Davidge employed him at eight dollars a week, and Otis Skinner's career was launched.

Otis Skinner built up his repertoire for several years in New York City and Boston, including three years with Lawrence Barrett.

Otis Skinner originated the role of Schwartz in Hermann Sudermann's Magda, and played Armand in Dumas's Camille.

Otis Skinner excelled in Shakespearean roles, including Shylock, Hamlet, Richard III and Romeo, and his Colonel Phillipe Brideau in The Honor of the Family was considered one of the greatest comedic performances of the first quarter of the 20th century.

Otis Skinner was a successful writer whose books included Footlights and Spotlights and Mad Folk of the Theatre.

Skinner's daughter Cornelia Otis Skinner, who became an actress and writer, was born in 1899.

Otis Skinner was portrayed onscreen by Charlie Ruggles in the film version of Cornelia's book Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.

Otis Skinner was a devout Episcopalian and a member of the Episcopal Actors Guild.

On January 4,1942, Otis Skinner died at his home in New York City, nearly a month after he had fallen ill while attending a benefit performance of The Wookey at the Plymouth Theatre, now the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

Otis Skinner had last appeared on stage in 1935, reciting the Forward in a revival of George M Cohan's Seven Keys to Baldpate.