William Farren
| William Farren | |
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| Born | 13 May 1796 |
| Died | 24 September 1861 (aged 65) |
| Occupation | Actor |
William Farren (13 May 1786 – 24 September 1861), English actor, was born the son of an actor (born 1725) of the same name, who played leading roles from 1784 to 1795 at Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
Raised on Gower Street in London, he was raised in comparative affluence, supported not only by his father's wealth but also by a large gift from surgeon Percival Pott. He attended school in Soho and may have apprenticed as an attorney in Wolverhampton; by 1806, however, he had joined his brother Percy's troupe in Plymouth. His first appearance on the stage was at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth in Charles Macklin's Love à la mode. From the beginning he specialized in comic old men and Irish parts. A decade of provincial apprenticeship followed in southern England and in Dublin (where he married); his first roles included Adam Contest in Elizabeth Inchbald's The Wedding Day and Lovegold in Henry Fielding's translation of Molière's The Miser; however, his name is associated with a wide variety of roles.
His first London appearance was in 1818 at Covent Garden as Sir Peter Teazle (in Sheridan's The School for Scandal), a part with which his name was always associated: he was an instant popular and critical success. He succeeded also in Colman and Garrick's The Clandestine Marriage.
He played at Covent Garden every winter until 1828, and began in 1824 a series of summer engagements at the Haymarket which also lasted some years. At these two theatres he played an immense variety of comedic characters. After 1821, he separated from his first wife and began living with Harriet Elizabeth Savill, who was at the time married to John Saville Faucit. After an unsuccessful attempt to annul the marriage, Farren and Savill lived together under common law marriage, though they did not marry formally until Saville's death in 1853. Farren and his brother played important roles in training Savill's daughter, Helen Faucit, for her successful acting career.
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