27 Facts About Seymour Hicks

Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer.

Seymour Hicks became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and producing Edwardian musical comedy, often together with his famous wife, Ellaline Terriss.

Seymour Hicks first played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in 1901 and eventually played it thousands of times onstage.

Seymour Hicks used his fortune from these shows to commission the building of the Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and the Seymour Hicks Theatre in 1906, opening the latter with a new hit show, The Beauty of Bath.

Seymour Hicks continued to write light comedies, the most popular of which was The Happy Day.

Seymour Hicks was born in St Helier on the island of Jersey.

Seymour Hicks first appeared professionally on stage at the age of sixteen in a production of In the Ranks at the Grand, Islington.

Seymour Hicks starred as Dr Watson in the first revue show ever staged in London, Under the Clock, a parody of Sherlock Holmes and Watson written by Seymour Hicks with Charles Brookfield, at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1894, Seymour Hicks joined his wife in the successful "Fairy pantomime", Cinderella, produced by Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre with music by Oscar Barrett, where she had been playing the title role.

Seymour Hicks's wife joined Edwardes's company during the run of the show, replacing the star in the title role, and together they made the musical an even bigger hit.

At the instance of W S Gilbert, Hicks wrote a drama called One of the Best, a vehicle for his father-in-law William Terriss at the Adelphi Theatre, based on the famous Dreyfus Trial.

Seymour Hicks hurried back from America for the opening in December 1895.

Seymour Hicks then worked as co-author on The Yashmak and then on one of the Gaiety Theatre's most successful shows, A Runaway Girl, in which Terriss played the title role.

Also in 1899, Seymour Hicks starred as the Duc De Richelieu in A Court Scandal, a comedy adapted by Aubrey Boucicault and Osmond Shillingford from Les Premieres Armes de Richelieu by Dumanoir, at the Court Theatre.

Seymour Hicks wrote the highly successful The Earl and the Girl and the successful The Catch of the Season.

In November 1906, Wolfries appeared at the Liverpool Assizes accused of libelling Seymour Hicks, while passing himself off as Dare's brother.

Seymour Hicks was found guilty and sentenced to 8 months imprisonment.

Seymour Hicks used some of the fortune he received from these shows to build the Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and the Seymour Hicks Theatre in 1906, which was renamed the "Globe Theatre" in 1909 and then the "Gielgud Theatre" in 1994.

The piece was based on A Court Scandal, in which Seymour Hicks had played in 1899.

Seymour Hicks then wrote and starred in Captain Kidd, an adaptation with music and lyrics by Leslie Stuart and Adrian Ross, of the American farce The Dictator.

Seymour Hicks appeared in his first Shakespeare play that year, Richard III.

Seymour Hicks continued to write light, escapist comedies, such as The Happy Day, Sleeping Partners and, after the war, satiric farces, such as Good Luck and Head Over Heels and adaptations of French farces.

Seymour Hicks appeared in three early silent films: Scrooge and David Garrick in 1913, and A Prehistoric Love Story in 1915, all directed by Leedham Bantock.

Seymour Hicks decided in 1923 to produce his own films.

Seymour Hicks directed and appeared in The Miracle Man at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

Seymour Hicks first played this role in 1901 and eventually played it thousands of times onstage, often at benefits, and twice on film: the 1913 silent film Scrooge and the 1935 film Scrooge, produced in England.

Seymour Hicks continued appearing on stage and in films until a year before his death in Hampshire, England, at the age of 78.