Henry Baynton

Henry Baynton as Hamlet c.1917

Henry Baynton (23 September 1892 in Warwick, Warwickshire, England – 2 January 1951 in London) was a British Shakespearean actor and actor-manager of the early 20th century.

Baynton made his first theatrical appearance in 1910, commencing a career in which he played in most of the works of William Shakespeare. He joined the company of Oscar Asche in 1911, and later that year joined the company of Frank Benson, for whom he appeared as Hamlet and as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1915). In 1916 Baynton appeared at the Stratford Festival, and in 1917 he joined the theatrical company of H.B. Irving at the Savoy Theatre, playing Laertes to Irving's Hamlet.^[1]

In 1917 Baynton formed his own theatrical company, with whom he played Orlando in As You Like It, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Brutus in Julius Caesar, the title roles in Henry V, Richard III, Hamlet, King Lear and Othello, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream^[2] Falstaff, and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. He played the Burgomaster Mathias in The Bells at the Savoy Theatre in 1924. Baynton's performance was not favourably received by the critics, who compared him adversely to Henry Irving, who had made the role his own.^[3]

Baynton toured the provinces between 1926 and 1930 appearing in the works of Shakespeare and various other plays. He disbanded his theatrical company in 1930, making him among the last of the actor-managers.

Baynton appeared in the 1917 film Auld Lang Syne.^[4] His final appearance in a Shakespearean role was in 1934 when he played Capulet in Romeo and Juliet.^[1]

He died in London in 1951 aged 58.

References

External links

• Baynton's performances in the Scottish Theatre Archive of the University of Glasgow
• Brief theatrical biography on Internet Movie Database
• Programme for a week of plays performed by Henry Baynton and his Company - Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton (1927)