Aldridge, Ira Frederic (July 24, 1807 - 1867) Actor/Playwright
Frederic Aldridge was the first U.S. actor to achieve critical and popular acclaim on the European stage. He was the first Negro to play roles such as Macbeth, Shylock and King Lear.
During 1820-1824, Aldridge was educated at the African Free School, which was established in New York in 1787 by the Manumission Society. The main purpose of the school was to create a Negro intelligentsia, which later participated actively in the leadership of the Abolitionist movement. In 1822, Aldridge performed his stage debut for the African Company in New York under the guidance of the lead actor, James Hewlett.
After the 1823 closing of the African Company, Aldridge moved to England and performed at the Royal Coburg Theater in London. He eventually became the first American actor to perform at Covent Garden, one of the greatest stages in the English-speaking world. Aldridge was met with mixed reviews -- half the audience loved him, and the other half booed him with racial slurs. He continued to perform in the lesser houses of England, Ireland and Scotland.
In 1847 Aldridge completed “The Black Doctor,” an adaptation of a French play in which a mixed-race doctor -- a character likely based on Aldridge -- heals, loves and marries a daughter of a French aristocrat.
Aldridge was married twice, first to Margaret Gill in 1825 (she died 1864) and then to Amanda Pauline von Brandt in 1865. He is said to have fathered at least five children. He died in 1867 in Poland.
