Prince of Players is a 1955 20th Century Fox biographical film about the 19th century American actor Edwin Booth. The film was directed and produced by Philip Dunne from a screenplay by Moss Hart, based on the book by Eleanor Ruggles. The music score was by Bernard Herrmann and the cinematography by Charles G. Clarke. The film was made in CinemaScope and in DeLuxe Color.
Original film poster
Richard Burton as Edwin Booth in Prince of Players
Richard Burton and Maggie McNamara in Prince of Players
Edwin Thomas Booth was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatrical historians consider him the greatest American actor, and the greatest Prince Hamlet, of the 19th century. His achievements are often overshadowed by his relationship with his younger brother, actor John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
Portrait of Booth, c. 1886
Edwin Booth with daughter Edwina, circa 1864
Portrait of Edwin Booth by John Singer Sargent, 1890, which hung at The Players clubhouse. Now in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Booth's Theatre Playbill of his Richard III circa 1872