Huntley Wright

Biography

Huntley Wright (7 August 1868 - 10 July 1941) was an English stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies. His career spanned more than half a century, beginning with performances in his family's touring theatre company. He then toured extensively in burlesque and other comedies and also appeared in London. In 1895, he toured in South Africa in a musical comedy, The Shop Girl. Beginning in 1896, he spent ten years creating roles in some of the era's most popular musical comedies for George Edwardes at Daly's Theatre. He continued playing in musicals in the West End and on Broadway until World War I, when he served in the British Army. After this, he continued to play in comedies, musical theatre and drama, also broadcasting frequently on the radio and appearing in several films later in his career. Wright's daughter, Betty Huntley-Wright, had a successful television and film career. Born Walter Thomas Curtis Wright in London, he was one of five children of Frederick Wright, Sr. (1828-1911) and his wife Jessie, née Francis (born 1841), both actors and comedians. His brother, Fred Wright Jr. (1865-1928), was also a successful actor in musical comedy, and his sisters, Maria "Marie" Wright (born 1864) and Ada "Haidee" Wright (1867-1943), and brother, Albert "Bertie" Wright (born 1871), were all actors. Wright was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, where he became a fine footballer at both forms of the game. He continued to play until his sporting injuries put his stage career at risk. He wished for a naval career, but his eyesight precluded it, and, despite his parents' disapproval, he pursued a career in the theatre. Apart from an appearance as a baby in his mother's arms in a melodrama, his stage début was as a teenager in the role of Dr Winsley Andrewes in False Lights at the Royal Edinburgh Theatre with his family's touring theatre company, the Frederick Wright Dramatic Company. Ada Reeve performed as a child with this company and also performed with Wright in 1896 in Dick Whittington and His Cat in Leeds. He performed under the name Walter Huntley before taking on his better-known stage name of Huntley Wright in 1889. In 1887, aged 18, Wright appeared in The Artist's Model at the Lyric Theatre, London. After four more years playing a variety of roles on tour, including Danny Man in Dion Boucicault's The Colleen Bawn, he again performed in London's West End in 1891 as Springe the birdcatcher in Fate and Fortune. He toured for three years in his own burlesque, Dashing Prince Hal. In 1894, he had a short engagement at Terry's Theatre, where he played in King Kodak, a topical burlesque, and The Foundling, a farce. He played Dr. Montague Brierly during part of the run of A Gaiety Girl at Daly's Theatre. He then went to South Africa with one of George Edwardes's companies, playing Miggles in The Shop Girl. Wright died of a heart attack at the age of 72 in Bangor, Wales.