William Anderson (theatre)
William Anderson (14 January 1868 – 16 August 1940) was a notable Australian theatre entrepreneur.
William Anderson | |
---|---|
Anderson c. 1914 | |
Born | 14 January 1868 |
Died | 16 August, 1940 (aged 71–72) |
Resting place | Melbourne General Cemetery |
Nationality | Australian |
Occupation | theatre entrepreneur |
Spouse(s) | |
Children | Mary Anderson |
Parent(s) | James Anderson, Jane Matthews |
He left school at age ten and eventually found work as a theatre manager, marrying the actress Eugenie Duggan. He established two theatre companies, opened Wonderland City in Sydney and built the Kings Theatre in Melbourne.[1] He produced several classics of the Australian stage including Thunderbolt (1905), The Squatter's Daughter (1907) (which he filmed in 1910) and The Man from Outback (1909), as well as co-writing several plays.
Anderson worked with such actors and writers as Edmund Duggan, Bert Bailey, Olive Wilton and Roy Redgrave and for a time his private secretary was Beaumont Smith. The financial failure of Wonderland City cost him his personal fortune, but he remained involved in theatre productions until the end of his life.[2]
Selected credits
- Thunderbolt (1905) - producer
- The Squatter's Daughter (1907) – producer
- The Man from Outback (1909) – producer
- The Squatter's Daughter (1910) – film, producer
- The Winning Ticket (1910) – producer, co-writer
- By Wireless Telegraphy (1910) – producer, co-writer
References
External links
- William Anderson at Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Leann Richards, 'William Anderson' at Aussietheatre.com
- William Anderson's Australian theatre credits at AusStage