George W. Anson

George W. Anson (25 November 1847 – 2 August 1920) was a British actor. He specialised in comedy roles, and appeared in New York and Sydney, Australia. He appeared in plays of Shakespeare, particularly in productions by Herbert Beerbohm Tree.

Early life and career Anson was born in Montrose in Scotland; his father was actor John W. Anson, whose early career was with theatrical companies of Dundee, Perth, Montrose and Inverness. His mother was the actress Barbara Johnson, the sister of Samuel Johnson who played the low-comedy roles in the Henry Irving Company at the Lyceum Theatre, London. George Anson first appeared on stage at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh in December 1865. During the next few years he gained a reputation as a character actor.

Niblo's Garden, Broadway, c.1887; Anson appeared here in 1872. He appeared in New York in 1872, in the burlesque La Belle Sauvage by John Brougham at the Broadway theatre Niblo's Garden; later the same year he was in the burlesque Poll and Partner Joe by F. C. Burnand at the same theatre.

Anson's first appearance in London was at the Olympic Theatre in 1873, in the comedy Sour Grapes by H. J. Byron. In the following year he was in a production at the same theatre of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, in the role of Verges. Up to 1875 he was in other plays at this theatre, including Lady Clancarty, The Ticket-of-Leave Man and Henry Dunbar, all by Tom Taylor; in Henry Dunbar, playing the role of the Major, "his picture of light-hearted and ebullient villainy... was singularly life-like and unconventional".

Shakespeare, Sydney and New York In 1880 he joined the company of Shakespearean actress Madame Modjeska. The following month he appeared, in the role of Eccles, in the comedy Caste by Thomas William Robertson at the same theatre. It was his final appearance before returning to England. The Sydney Morning Herald said "after the present run it is not probable that as fine a cast will ever be furnished in Australia again".

Between 1910 and 1917 he appeared in various Broadway theatres. He appeared in Suzanne which ran for 64 performances at the Lyceum Theatre, opening in December 1910.

Other Broadway plays in this period included in 1916 a revival of The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which Beerbohm Tree also appeared, and in 1917 The Barton Mystery by Walter Hackett, in which George Anson's son Albert Edward Anson also appeared.

Movies He appeared in the 1914 short film The President's Special, one of many films produced by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. up to 1918, and he was in the 1915 American film The Builder of Bridges (based on a play of that name by Alfred Sutro), directed by George Irving. He was in the British film Desire (based on a story by Balzac), directed by George Edwardes-Hall; the film appeared in 1920, the year of George Anson's death.