fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

James Keteltas Hackett (September 6, 1869 – November 8, 1926) was an American actor and manager.

James K. Hackett
Born	(1869-09-06)September 6, 1869 Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada
Died	November 8, 1926(1926-11-08) (aged 57) Paris, France
Occupation	Stage actor
Spouse(s)	Mary Mannering ​ ​ (m. 1897; div. 1908)​ Beatrice Mary Beckley ​ ​ (m. 1911)​
Parent(s)	James Henry Hackett
Signature

Life

James K. Hackett was the son of Clara C. and James Henry Hackett, a comedian and celebrated Falstaff. He was born on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada.[1] His elderly father died at age 71 when Hackett was just two years old.

Hackett attended New York's Grammar School 69 and graduated with a B.A. degree from the College of the City of New York in 1891. He made his professional debut as an actor in Philadelphia in 1892, as Francois in The Broken Seal. In New York later that year, he played opposite Mrs. Potter. Later in the decade, he played Romeo to Olga Nethersole's Juliet, and Mercutio to Maude Adams's Juliet.[2]

After a year on tour, Hackett opened in a theatrical adaptation of Rupert of Hentzau at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City on April 10, 1899, playing King Rudolf and his lookalike Rudolf Rassendyll.[3][4]

Hackett played Captain Basil Jennico in the 1900 production of The Pride of Jennico with Bertha Galland in her New York stage debut.[5][6]

In 1913, Adolph Zukor lured Hackett from the stage to star in director Edwin Porter's film The Prisoner of Zenda (1913), for a role which Hackett had played in the theater numerous times. Since feature films were in their infancy, Hackett was at first reluctant to take the part. Zukor tried to convince Hackett in person, and as Neal Gabler writes, "When Hackett came to visit Zukor, he was the very picture of the faded matinee idol. He wore a fur-collared coat with frayed sleeves and carried a gold-headed cane".[7]

On May 2, 1897, he married the actress Mary Mannering, and they had a daughter together, Elise (1904–1974).[8][9] They divorced in 1908.[1] In 1911, Hackett remarried to Beatrice Mary Beckley, who appeared with him in his debut film The Prisoner of Zenda for Zukor's Famous Players company.[10]

Recorder John K. Hackett (1821–1879) was his half-brother. In 1914, James inherited from his niece Minnie (Hackett) Trowbridge (1850–1914), the only child of his half-brother John, the larger part of her estate, valued at $1,389,049, equivalent to $37,578,159 in 2021.[11][12]

James K. Hackett died at his home in Paris on November 8, 1926.[13]

References

Publications

• Strang, Famous Actors of the Day in America, (Boston, 1900)
• William Winter, The Wallet of Time, (two volumes, New York, 1913)

External links

• James K. Hackett at the Internet Broadway Database
• James K. Hackett at IMDb
• Beatrice Beckley at the Internet Broadway Database

---