Martin-Harvey, Sir John (1863-1944), was a British actor and manager often called the last romantic because he represented an approach to the theater that was dying out. As an actor, he was at his best in romantic and melodramatic situations. One of his most notable performances was Oedipus in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex. He began his career as a manager with The Only Way (1899), a sentimental adaptation of the British author Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities. The stage version became one of the most popular plays of the early 1900’s in England.
Martin-Harvey was born on June 22, 1863, in Wivenhoe, Essex, England. He made his stage debut in 1881 and acted in the company of the British actor and manager Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre from 1882 to 1896. Martin-Harvey was knighted in 1921. He wrote his Autobiography (1933). Martin-Harvey died on May 14, 1944.
