Willie Warde

Willie Warde (1857 – 18 August 1943) was an English actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. The son of a dancer, his first theatre work was with a dance company. He was engaged to arrange dances for London productions and was later cast as a comic actor in musical theatre. He was associated for over two decades with the Gaiety and Daly's theatres under the management of George Edwardes, playing in and choreographing burlesques and, later, Edwardian musical comedies. In later years he played character roles in West End comic plays.

Warde was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in the east of England, the second son and third child of William Warde (died 1859), a professional dancer, actor and author and director of the Winchester music hall in south London. Warde's older siblings were John and Emma, both of whom were also dancers. Warde followed his father's profession, and joined a dance troupe led by his brother-in-law John D'Auban (who choreographed many W. S. Gilbert works and had married Warde's sister Emma in 1871), with whom he appeared in 1878.

In 1886, Warde was choreographer for Ivan Caryll's The Lily of Leoville at the Comedy Theatre. By 1888, Warde was appearing as an actor. Charles Hawtrey cast him in a burlesque of Atalanta at the Strand Theatre with Frank Wyatt and Tom Squire. For the next twenty years, Warde maintained a dual career as choreographer and actor, as the Victorian musical theatre evolved from burlesque into Edwardian musical comedy. Away from the West End, he also occasionally undertook the stage direction of musical shows in the provinces.

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