Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (1830–15 February 1900) was an actor-manager and Shakespearean actor of the 19th century and a member of Henry Irving's Company at the Lyceum Theatre, for which he played the comedic roles.

Early career Born in Ayrshire, Sam Johnson was one of at least seven children born to the actor Samuel Johnson and Isabella (née Elliott). Most of his siblings were actors, while one brother was a scene painter. He first appeared on stage at the Maryport Theatre in Cumberland in 1844 as Bartolo in The Wife. In 1845 he and his two sisters went to Belfast and joined Cunningham's company at the Theatre Royal. In 1846 he and his sister, the actress Barbara Johnson, were appearing in Belfast. In December 1846 Barbara Johnson married the actor John W. Anson. The three, together with two others from the Belfast company, moved to Scotland where they formed a new company, of which John Anson was manager. From early 1847 in the Perth area, they appeared in towns with a repertory of plays so that the audience of each town could see several plays in a week. Barbara Anson took the lead female roles, and John Anson and Samuel Johnson shared the low comedy parts. Late in 1847 the trio played in the Dundee area.

From 1853 to 1855 he was in partnership with John Coleman, and the two rented theatres in Stockport, Oldham (where over 2,000 applicants responded to their advert for actors), Cambridge and Sheffield. On leaving the partnership Johnson appeared at the Lyceum Theatre in Sunderland and the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. The New Royal Lyceum Theatre re-opened in Sunderland in 1856 with a production of Bulwer Lytton's play Richelieu, in which Johnson played the Governor and the 18-year-old Henry Irving played Gaston, Duke of Orleans. When the inexperienced Irving got stage fright and was hissed off the stage, Johnson was among those who supported Irving with practical advice. Later in life Irving gave them all regular work when he formed his own company at the Lyceum Theatre. Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing (1882 and 1893) and Gravedigger in Hamlet reflect this.

For Irving, Johnson played Mr. Wardle in Jingle, Sancho Panza in Don Quixote, Samson Rawbold in The Iron Chest, Farmer Flamborough in Olivia (opposite Hermann Vezin as Dr. Primrose), Jock Howieson in The King and the Miller (1890 and 1895), Choppard in The Lyons Mail, and played in Eugene Aram and Faust. He was Feste in Twelfth Night, Colonna in The Corsican Brothers (1880 and 1891), Countryman in Becket (1893 and 1894), Marcel in Louis XI (1890), Porter in Macbeth (1895) and Hans in The Bells (1891 to 1898). His daughter Isa Johnson played Annette in The Bells for a few performances at the Lyceum and went on one of the company's provincial tours.

Last years Johnson's last performance was at the Theatre Royal Haymarket weeks before his death. In February 1899 Johnson played Mr. Stryver in The Only Way, again at the Lyceum Theatre but now under John Martin-Harvey as manager. Not feeling in the best of health, Johnson decided not to join the sixth Lyceum tour to America, appearing instead in his last role as Meester van Speenen in The Black Tulip with Cyril Maude and Winifred Emery at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in a production that ran for 77 performances and which closed on 6 January 1900.

A heavy drinker, Johnson died of cirrhosis of the liver on 15 February 1900, at 29 Weltje Road in Hammersmith, London.

Personal life He married Mary Ann Hornby on 10 July 1858 at Marske-by-the-Sea. The couple had a son, Samuel Forster Johnson (1859–1860), and a daughter, the actress Isabella 'Isa' Elizabeth Johnson (1861–1941). A Freemason, he was a Past Master of Asaph Lodge.

Johnson is buried in Brookwood Cemetery (Plot 118 Actors Acre) with his wife, son and daughter and in the same plot as his sister and her husband, John W. Anson. The funeral was attended by his brother John Johnson and by actors and others from Asaph Lodge, Logic Club, Genesius Club, the Actors' Association, the Lyceum Benevolent Fund and the Actors' Benevolent Fund. Henry Irving and other members of the Lyceum Theatre Company were still on tour in America and were therefore not able to attend.