Walker Whiteside

Walker Whiteside (1869–1942) was an American actor who had played Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Shylock while still in his teens.

Early life Walker Whiteside was born on March 16, 1869, near the confluence of the Wabash and Eel rivers at Logansport in northern Indiana. He was a child of Thomas C. and Lavina (née Walker) Whiteside. He had a sister, Matilda (Tillie; 6/14/1861-4/25/1884; married Charles K. Allen, 1880; had son, George Allen, 1883) Walker's family would later move to the Chicago suburb of Riverside where his father's law practice afforded them the luxury of two servants. In the years to come, Thomas Whiteside would serve as an Indiana state judge and as a member of the Indiana Supreme Court. Lavina Whiteside was born in Indiana, the daughter of Judge George B. Walker, a native of Maryland who had settled in Logansport.

Career While in his teens or earlier, Walker Whiteside attended acting classes under the tutelage of Professor Samuel Kayzer of the Dramatic Conservatory of Chicago. His ability there to play roles that would appear to be beyond his years soon drew local media attention as the boy tragedian of Chicago. In October 1884, the not yet sixteen-year-old actor hired Alderman Ford, a theatrical agent from Kansas City and, on November 17, made his professional stage debut in Richard III at Chicago's Grand Opera House. Walker found the experience both terrifying and exhilarating, but knew immediately he had found his calling.

He spent much of the following decade or so with Shakespearean companies, touring primarily America's Midwest, before making his New York premier in April 1893 at the Union Square Theatre, playing Hamlet and the title part in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Richelieu. In 1894, Whiteside again performed Hamlet for the debut season of the Grand Opera House in Traverse City, Michigan. By the dawn of the 20th century, and barely into his thirties, Walker had played Hamlet in some 1,400 productions. On January 31, 1901, just fifteen minutes after the final curtain call of Walker's play Heart and Sword, the Coates Opera House in Kansas City caught fire and burned to the ground. By the time the fire had spread from the boiler room, the building had been evacuated, forcing Walker's company to abandon their theatrical gear to the flames. Later, Walker signed with Shipman Brothers in New York, performing romantic and classic plays under their banner until he was able to recoup his losses. Walker played several Asian characters over his career, some evil, at least one not, that were probably comparable to those portrayed in films made in Hollywood over the first half of the twentieth century. Walker Whiteside also appeared in the film adaptation of The Melting Pot in 1915 and three years later in the spy film, The Belgian, directed by Sidney Olcott.

The remainder of Walker's career would be a successful combination of performances on the road and on Broadway. During this period, his leading lady for seven seasons was New Orleans native Sydney Shields. For whatever reason, Walker had several plays that had popular runs on the road that he never brought to Broadway. Until his retirement in 1935, Walker had a large following among Mid-American audiences who considered him one of their own. Walker Whiteside married actress Leila Wolston McCord (professionally known as Leila Wolston)), the daughter of John Thomas McCord founder of the Mississippi River Steamship Line, Two years later, the couple became the parents of Rosamond Whiteside Pettibone, who, since her parents traveled with vaudeville was sent at an early age to school, as a nun apprentice at the Catholic Abby in MO. Rosemond herself would later go on to be a vaudeville performer and a singer with the St. Louis Opera Company.

Selected plays The Red Cockade (1899) adaptation/actor/producer (adapted from an English translation of Le Lion Amoureux by Francois Ponsard) Heart and Sword (c. 1900) actor/producer/writer We Are King (1904) adaptation/actor/producer The Magic Melody (1907) The Typhoon (1912) actor/producer Mr. Wu (1914) actor/director The Pawn (1917) actor The Little Brother (1918) actor The Hindu (1922) actor/producer/writer Maverick (1924) actor/producer The Arabian (1927) actor The Royal Box (1928) actor Sakura (1928) actor/producer Three Men and a Woman (1932) actor/director The Master of Ballantrae (1935) actor