Hart, Charles

▪ British actor

died August 1683, Stanmore, Middlesex, Eng.

      English actor, probably the son of the actor William Hart, nephew of William Shakespeare.

      Hart is first heard of as playing women's parts at Blackfriars Theatre, London, as an apprentice. During the Commonwealth he played surreptitiously at the Cockpit, Holland House, and other noblemen's residences. After the Restoration he appeared on the reopened public stage and in 1663 went to the Theatre Royal in Thomas Killigrew's company, with which he remained until 1682, taking leading parts in plays by John Dryden, Ben Jonson, and Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. He is highly spoken of by contemporaries in such Shakespearean parts as Othello and Brutus. He is often mentioned by Samuel Pepys. Thomas Betterton praised him and would not himself play the part of Hotspur until after Hart's retirement. Hart is said to have been the first lover of Nell Gwyn and to have trained her for the stage.

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