17 Facts About Walker Whiteside

Walker Whiteside was an American actor who had played Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Shylock while still in his teens.

Walker Whiteside was born on March 16,1869, near the confluence of the Wabash and Eel rivers at Logansport in northern Indiana.

Walker Whiteside was a child of Thomas C and Lavina Whiteside.

Walker Whiteside had a sister, Matilda Walker's family would later move to the Chicago suburb of Riverside where his father's law practice afforded them the luxury of two servants.

Lavina Whiteside was born in Indiana, the daughter of Judge George B Walker, a native of Maryland who had settled in Logansport.

Walker Whiteside found the experience both terrifying and exhilarating, but knew immediately he had found his calling.

Walker Whiteside spent much of the following decade or so with Shakespearean companies, touring primarily America's Midwest, before making his New York premier in April 1893 at the Union Square Theatre, playing Hamlet and the title part in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Richelieu.

In 1894, Walker Whiteside again performed Hamlet for the debut season of the Grand Opera House in Traverse City, Michigan.

Later, Walker Whiteside signed with Shipman Brothers in New York, performing romantic and classic plays under their banner until he was able to recoup his losses.

Walker Whiteside appeared in the film adaptation of The Melting Pot in 1915 and three years later in the spy film, The Belgian, directed by Sidney Olcott.

For whatever reason, Walker Whiteside had several plays that had popular runs on the road that he never brought to Broadway.

Until his retirement in 1935, Walker Whiteside had a large following among Mid-American audiences who considered him one of their own.

Walker Whiteside died on August 17,1942, at his family residence in Hastings-on-Hudson, a village in the town of Greenburgh, New York, just a few miles north of New York City.

Walker Whiteside never recovered from a stroke suffered three years earlier.

Leila Walker Whiteside died at Hastings-on-Hudson on January 3,1944, after a short illness.

Walker Whiteside had been a member of Augustin Daly's stock company for a number of seasons before joining her husband as a co-star in Shakespearean productions throughout much of the 1890s.

Walker Whiteside retired from the stage after a fifteen-year career.