Ernst von Possart

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Knight Ernst von Possart (1841-1921) was a German actor and theatre director. He was born in Berlin and was early an actor at Breslau, Bern, and Hamburg. Connected with the Munich Court Theatre after 1864, he became the oberregisseur in 1875. In 1877 he was made director of the Bavarian royal theatres; in 1887-92 toured the United States, Germany, Russia, and Holland; in 1895-1905 was intendant of the Bavarian Hoftheater; and in 1901 opened the Prince Regent's Theatre. In the private royal theatre (the Residenz) he produced several of Mozart's operas. Among his own rôles were Nathan, Gessler, Mephisto, Iago, and Shylock. He edited German versions of Lear (1875), The Merchant of Venice (1880), and Coriolanus; wrote the plays Der deutschfranzösische Krieg (1871), Recht des Herzens (1898), and Im Aussichtswagen (1898); and published Aufgabe der Schauspielkunst (1895), Lehrgang des Schauspielers (1901), and descriptions of many of his own productions.