Richard Mansfield (1857-1907), American stage actor, was born in
             Berlin to soprano Erminia Rudersdorff Mansfield and her second husband,
             British wine merchant Maurice Mansfield. He was educated in England and
             studied painting but eventually drifted into acting, starting his stage
             career with a touring Comedy-Opera Company. Mansfield made his London stage
             debut in Offenbach's La Boulangere at the Globe in April 1881. (Stone,
             2001). Following the death of his mother while on tour in the United
             States, he left for the US himself in 1882 where he became one of the
             leading romantic actors of the American theater and died prematurely in
             He made his New York Stage debut in a D'Oyly Carte production of
             Bucalossi's Les Manteaux Noirs the same year and continued to appear in
             light opera roles until he got his first big opportunity to play the Baron
             Chevrial in A Parisian Romance (1883). With the success of the play,
             Mansfield became an instant celebrity. He became his own manager and
             producer. Some of his notable stage productions include Beau Brummel (1890)
             and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1887). He was also responsible for introducing
             George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen to the American audience by producing
             and acting in their plays Shaw's Arms and the Man (1894) and Ibsen's Peer
             Gynt (1906). Mansfield's notable Shakespearean roles included Shylock,
             Richard III, Brutus, and Henry V. (Stone, 2001; Turney, n.d.)
             At the time of his death, The New York Times called him "the greatest
             actor of his hour, and one of the greatest of all times." (Quoted by Stone,
             2001) His harshest critic, J.R.Towse, was slightly more ambivalent and
             perhaps closer to the truth when he observed: "Few actors could be more
             interesting and attractive than he when at his best, still fewer more
             exasperating when he was at his worst." (Quoted by Turney, n.d.)
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