William A. Brady
| William A. Brady | |
|---|---|
Brady circa 1910/1913.
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| Born |
June 19, 1863 San Francisco, California, USA |
| Died | January 6, 1950 (aged 86) New York City, New York, USA |
| Cause of death | Heart ailment |
| Resting place | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery |
| Spouse(s) | Rose Marie Rene (?–1896) (her death) Grace George (1899–1950) (his death) |
| Children |
Alice Brady William A. Brady, Jr. |
William Aloysius Brady (June 19, 1863 – January 6, 1950) was an American theatre actor, producer and sports promoter.
Brady was born to a newspaperman in 1863. His father kidnapped him from San Francisco and brought him to New York City, where his father worked as a writer while William was forced to sell newspapers on street corners. Upon his father's death when William was 15, he hitchhiked his way back to San Francisco.
He made his start on the stage in San Francisco, California with a company headed by Joseph R. Grismer and Phoebe Davies shortly after his return. As a callboy in The White Slave, he filled in a role for an ill actor, and started his career. After a failed attempt to produce a version of She by H. Rider Haggard, he was able to secure the rights to After Dark, successfully bringing the play to New York. While Brady was sued for his efforts, as Augustin Daly claimed plagiarism, Brady was able to make enough money to continue with his theater ventures.
Brady inadvertently became a boxing promoter during this time. He cast James J. Jeffries in After Dark, and later introduced the man into the boxing circuit, where Jeffries would eventually become the undisputed heavyweight champion. Brady would be the only person to manage two undisputed heavyweight champions, in Jeffries and James J. Corbett. Brady produced The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight in 1897. Although Corbett ultimately lost, the match ran for over an hour and a half, and the documentary lasted that long, the longest film ever released at the time. In 1898 Brady and Grismer produced the hugely successful Charlotte Blair Parker play, Way Down East. The two remained partners until Grismer's retirement sometime around 1909.
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