Cecil Raleigh

Cecil Raleigh (27 January 1856 – 10 November 1914, London, England) was an English actor and playwright.

He was the son of Dr. John Fothergill Rowlands, and took the stage name of Raleigh. He played for a time in musical comedy, but deserted acting for playwriting and, either alone or in collaboration, produced an immense number of melodramas, staged at first chiefly at the Comedy Theatre, London, and in later years at Drury Lane. Cheer, Boys, Cheer (1895); Hearts are Trumps (1899); The Best of Friends (1902); and The Whip (1909–10) are typical examples. Several of his plays were later made into motion pictures. He also acted as dramatic critic to two or three London papers, and became secretary to the School of Dramatic Art in Gower Street, London.

He married Effie Adelaide Henderson (later Madame Albanesi, 1859 – 16 October 1936), a British novelist who published as Effie Adelaide Rowlands, whom he later divorced. He later married Saba Raleigh (1866–1923), an actress, with whom he remained married until his death in 1914.

Plays

Theatrical poster for The Great Ruby

• The Whip, 1909, with Henry Hamilton, the basis for silent films of 1917 and 1928
• Sporting Life, with Seymour Hicks, the basis for silent films of 1918 and 1925
• Hearts Are Trumps, 1900, the basis for the 1920 silent film
• The Marriages of Mayfair, the basis for the 1920 silent film The Fatal Hour
• The Hope, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1920 silent film
• The Best of Luck, with Hamilton and Arthur Collins, the basis for the 1920 silent film
• The Derby Winner, co-written with Hamilton and Augustus Harris, 1895, was produced in the United States under the title The Sporting Duchess. It was the basis of silent films of the same names in 1915 and 1923
• Cheer, Boys, Cheer, with Harris and Hamilton, 1895
• The Sporting Duchess, the basis for silent films of 1915 and 1920
• Dick Whittington, with Harris and Hamilton
• The White Heather, 1897, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1919 silent film The White Heather
• The Sins of Society, 1909, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1915 silent film
• The Great Ruby, 1898, with Hamilton, the basis for the 1915 silent film
• The King's Minister, the basis for the 1914 silent film
• The Best of Friends
• The Price of Peace
• The Grey Mare, with George Robert Sims
• The Guardsman, with Sims
• Stolen Orders, 1915, with Hamilton, turned into a motion picture in 1918

Musical theatre

• Little Christopher Columbus, 1893 burlesque, co-written with Sims
• Dick Whittington and His Cat, 1894 pantomime, co-written with Augustus Harris and Hamilton
• The Yashmak, 1897 musical, co-written with Seymour Hicks
• The Sunshine Girl, 1912 musical, book co-written with Paul A. Rubens

External links

• Cecil Raleigh at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Cecil Raleigh on IMDb
• Obituary at the New York Times
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.