Francis Wilson (actor)

For other people named Francis Wilson, see Francis Wilson (disambiguation).

Francis Wilson
Born	February 2, 1854(1854-02-02) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	October 7, 1935(1935-10-07) (aged 81)
Occupation	Stage actor
Spouse	Edna Bruns

Francis Wilson (2 February 1854 – 7 October 1935) was an American actor, born in Philadelphia.

Career

He began his career in a minstrel show, but by 1878 was playing at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, and the next year appeared in M'liss with Annie Pixley. After several years in regular comedy, he took up some comic opera, appearing with the McCaull Comic Opera Company and making a great success in Erminie (1886). In 1889, leaving New York's Casino Theatre, he made his appearance as a star in The Oolah. Plays in which he starred subsequently include: The Lion Tamer (1891); The Little Corporal (1898); The Bachelor's Baby (1909), written by himself. He was the author of Joseph Jefferson: Reminiscences of a Fellow Player (1906), The Eugene Field I Knew (1898), and several plays of which The Bachelor's Baby was the most successful.

Francis Wilson Playhouse

Francis Wilson Playhouse is the successor to the Clearwater Players, organized in 1930 as a community theatre which presented productions in ad-hoc venues around Clearwater, Florida for several years. In 1935, the first president of Actors Equity, Francis Wilson, a winter resident in Clearwater, convinced a friend, Mary Bok, to contribute $5,000 for the construction of a permanent home for the Clearwater Players.

Mrs. Bok agreed to the contribution on the condition that the Theatre would be named after Francis Wilson, who at that time was the premier actor of the New York stage. The bronze plaque of Mary Bok over the fireplace in the lobby is the only thanks she would accept.

The City of Clearwater leased the land the theatre currently sits on for a term of 99 years for the rental sum of $1.00 per year, and the theatre was built in 1936.

Francis Wilson Playhouse makes traditional theater available to the community and builds and enhances the community's cultural image by offering a season of eight main stage productions typically including 4 musicals and 4 plays. The theater also includes Family Theater with original scripts geard twords families and children between the ages of 4 and 10, as well as a concert seires with theams ranging from broadwayy flops and broadway composers to holidays (i.e. love songs from broadway for a valentines concert). About 14,000 people a year see shows in the 182-seat theater. Auditions are open to the community and volunteers are welcome in all areas of theater production. From June 8–18, 2006, the theater staged an original musical about the life of Francis Wilson entitled "Francis Wilson the Musical (The Man and His Theatre)", in which the book, music, and lyrics were written By Gil Perlroth. James Grenelle was the director, and Mark Jelks was the musical director. The role of Francis Wilson was performed by Rick Kistner. (Young Francis Wilson was portrayed by Scott Hamilton). The show begins with the Ghost of the elder Wilson visiting the playhouse which bears his name and flashes back to his participation with the Actor's Strike of 1919, his estrangement and eventual reunion with close friend George M. Cohan, his family life in New York and his assistance in obtaining the funding for the original theater building.

You can view the website of the theater for information on the current season, auditions and any other inqueries.

Sources

• Clapp and Edgett, Players of the Present (New York, 1901)
• Kenrick, John. (2003) Who's Who in Musicals: Addendum 2003. Accessed 17 March 2007.
• FrancisWilsonPlayhouse.org
• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.

Dalton Hamilton portrayed Jeff Wilson in Francis Wilson – The Musical

External links

• Francis Wilson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Francis Wilson at Find a Grave