1717-1779. British actor and theatre manager.
He was a pupil of Samuel Johnson. From 1747
he became joint licensee of the Drury Lane
theatre with his own company, and instituted
a number of significant theatrical
conventions including concealed stage
lighting and banishing spectators from the
stage. He performed Shakespeare characters
such as Richard III, King Lear, Hamlet, and
Benedick, and collaborated with George Colman
(1732-94) in writing the play The Clandestine
Marriage 1766. He retired from the stage
1766, but continued as a manager.