Bogumil Dawison

Bogumil Dawison
Bogumil Dawison as Richard III by Friedrich von Amerling
Born(1818-05-15)15 May 1818
Warsaw
Died1 February 1872(1872-02-01) (aged 53)
NationalityGerman
Occupationactor

Bogumil Dawison (15 May 1818 – 1 February 1872) was a Polish-born German actor.

He was born in Warsaw, of Jewish parents. At the age of nineteen he went on the stage. In 1839 he received an appointment to the theater of Lemberg in Galicia. In 1847 he played at Hamburg with marked success. He joined Burg theatre ensemble in Vienna in 1849 under the director Heinrich Laube.[1] From 1849 to 1854 he was a member of the Burg theatre, and then became connected with the Dresden court theater. In the 1850s, he started a European tour, playing in Amsterdam, Paris, Warsaw, and St. Petersburg, and finally, a visit to the United States of America in 1866.[2] In 1864 he was given a life engagement, but later resigned it. In 1866 Dawison was contracted to appear in New York by Elise Hoym, who was the director of Stadttheater. He appeared in a wide range of his popular roles, and received enthusiastic tribute from the press in New York.[3] He died in Dresden in 1872.[4]

In the classical repertory, he became widely known for his performance of Hamlet, among others.[1] Dawison was considered in Germany an actor of a new type; a leading critic wrote that he and Marie Seebach swept like fresh gales over dusty tradition, and brushing aside the monotony of declamation gave to their roles more character and vivacity than had hitherto been known on the German stage. His chief parts were Mephistopheles, Franz Moor, Mark Antony, Hamlet, Charles V, Richard III and King Lear.[4]

  1. ^ a b Rogowski, Christian (15 December 2011). The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy. Camden East, Canada: Camden House. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-571-13429-5. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  2. ^ Hardison Londré, Felicia (1 May 1991). The History of World Theater: From the English Restoration to the Present. London: A&C Black. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-826-41167-9. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  3. ^ Koegel, John (4 June 2009). Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840-1940. Rochester, NY: University Rochester Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-580-46215-0. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  4. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dawison, Bogumil". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 873.