Editing Charles Fechter (section)

==Biography==
[[File:CharlesFechter001.JPG|thumb|Charles Fechter as [[Hamlet]], 1872.]]
Fechter was born, probably in London, of French parents, although his mother was of [[Piedmont (Italy)|Piedmont]]ese and his father of [[Germany|German]] extraction.

As a boy he had ambitions to be a [[sculpture|sculptor]] but discovered his talent while appearing in some private theatricals. In 1841 he joined a travelling company that was going to Italy. The tour was a failure, and the company broke up; Fechter returned home and resumed the study of sculpture. At the same time he attended classes at the Conservatoire with the view of gaining admission to the [[Comédie-Française]]. Late in 1844 he won the grand medal of the [[Académie des Beaux-Arts]] with a piece of sculpture, and made his debut at the Comédie-Française as Seide in [[Voltaire]]'s ''[[Mahomet (play)|Mahomet]]'' and Valère in [[Molière]]'s ''[[Tartuffe]]''. He acquitted himself with credit; but, tired of the small parts he found himself condemned to play, returned again to his sculptor's studio in 1846.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In the same year he was invited to appear with a French company in Berlin, where he made his first decisive success as an actor. On his return to Paris in the following year he married the actress [[Eléonore Rabut]] (d. 1895). Previously he had appeared for some months in London, in a season of French classical plays given at the [[St James's Theatre]]. In Paris for the next ten years he fulfilled a series of successful engagements at various theatres, his chief triumph being his creation at the Vaudeville on 2 February 1852 of the part of Armand Duval in ''[[La Dame aux camélias]]''. For nearly two years (1857–1858) Fechter was manager of the [[Odéon]], where he produced ''Tartuffe'' and other classical plays.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Having received tempting offers to act in English at the [[Princess's Theatre, London]], he made a diligent study of the English language, and appeared there on 27 October 1860 in an English version of [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[Ruy Blas]]''. This was followed by ''The Corsican Brothers'' and ''Don César de Bazan''; and on 20 March 1861, he attempted ''[[Hamlet]]'' for the first time. The result was an extraordinary triumph, the play running for 115 nights. This was followed by ''[[Othello]]'', in which he played alternately the Moor and Iago. In 1863 he leased the [[Lyceum Theatre, London|Lyceum Theatre]], where he opened with ''The Duke's Motto''; this was followed by ''The King's Butterfly'', ''The Mountebank'' (in which his son Paul, a boy of seven, appeared), ''The Roadside Inn'', ''The Master of Ravenswood'', ''The Corsican Brothers'' (in the original French version, in which he had created the parts of Louis and Fabian dei Franchi) and ''The Lady of Lyons''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
[[File:No Thoroughfare by Dickens and Wilkie Collins.jpg|thumb|''[[No Thoroughfare]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Wilkie Collins]]. Left to right: [[Benjamin Nottingham Webster|Benjamin Webster]], [[Sarah Woolgar|Mrs. Alfred Mellon]], [[Henry Gartside Neville|Henry G. Neville]], Charles Fechter, [[Carlotta Leclercq]], [[John Billington (actor)|John Billington]], and [[George G. Belmore]].]]
After this he appeared at the [[Adelphi Theatre]] (1868) as Obenreizer in ''[[No Thoroughfare]]'', by [[Charles Dickens]] and [[Wilkie Collins]], as Edmond Dantes in ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'', and as Count de Leyrac in ''Black and White'', a play in which the actor himself collaborated with Wilkie Collins.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1870 he visited the United States, where (with the exception of a visit to London in 1872) he remained till his death. He played in the United States between 1870 and 1876 in most of the parts in which he had won his chief triumphs in Britain. His first appearance in New York was at [[Niblo's Garden]] in the title role of Hugo's ''[[Ruy Blas]]'' in January 1870.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He leased the [[Church of the Messiah (Manhattan)|Globe Theatre]] at 730 Broadway in September 1870. The experiment was brief. Fechter's imperious temper, aggravated by indulgence in drink, involved him in private quarrels and in discussions in the press, and he left in January 1871. He then had the same experiences at the old [[Fourteenth Street Theatre|French theatre]], renamed the Lyceum Theatre that year, and also in Boston.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

He then went into a brief partnership with [[Edmund O'Flaherty|William Stuart]] at the newly completed [[Abbey's Park Theatre|New Park Theatre]] in April 1874. It had been built by Stuart and [[Dion Boucicault]], who pulled out just before the opening.{{sfn|Dimmick|1913|p=51}} Fechter acted in his own ''Love's Penance'', an adaptation of ''Le médecin des enfants'' by le Comte d'Avrigny. The play flopped, and Fechter retired to a farm which he had bought in the little village of Richland Centre, Bucks County, near [[Quakertown, Pennsylvania|Quakertown]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The last three years of his life were spent in seclusion with his second wife, Lizzie Price, and his dogs on the farm, where he died. He was interred at [[Mount Vernon Cemetery (Philadelphia)|Mount Vernon Cemetery]] in Philadelphia.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CCQMAQAAIAAJ&dq=Mount+Vernon+Cemetery+charles+fechter&pg=PA83 ''Charles Albert Fechter'']</ref>

A bust of the actor by himself is in the [[Garrick Club]], London.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}