Otis Skinner
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Otis Skinner (b. June 28, 1858, Cambridge, Massachusetts; d. January 4, 1942, New York City) was an American actor.
Starting his career in New York, he toured first with Augustin Daly, then with Helena Modjeska. He excelled in Shakespearean roles like Shylock, Hamlet, Richard III and Romeo, and his Colonel Phillipe Brideau in The Honor of the Family was considered one of the greatest comedic performances of the first quarter of the twentieth century. Skinner's signature role was as Hajj the beggar in Kismet (1911) on Broadway, and he continued playing it on stage for twenty years, recreating his performance both in the 1920 and 1930 film versions of the play. Later roles included Albert Mott in Humpty Dumpty (1918), Sir John Falstaff in both Henry IV, part 1 (1926) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (1928), and Shylock opposite the Portia of Maude Adams (1931-32).
Skinner was also a successful writer whose books included Footlights and Spotlights and Mad Folk of the Theatre. His daughter, actress and author Cornelia Otis Skinner, was born in 1901.
