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Biography
Sir George Alexander (1858-1918) became an actor in 1879 - rather than becoming a financier as his parents had wished. He joined Henry Irving at the Lyceum in 1881 and stayed until 1889. Shortly after leaving, he became the lessee of the St. James's Theatre where he was the first British producer of many important plays, including Oscar Wilde's Lady Windemere's Fan (1892) and The Importance of Being Ernest (1895), in which he played Jack Worthing. His production of Pinero's The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1893), in which he played Aubrey Tanquaray, made Mrs Patrick Campbell into a theatrical star. Another four Pinero premieres followed and there were many other successes, including Stephen Phillips’s Paolo and Francesca (1902). Henry James’s dreadful Guy Domville (1895) was a rare disaster.
A shrewd but caring theatre manager, he did much to encourage both new playwrights and talented actors. He was knighted in 1911.
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