Edwin Hunter Pendleton Arden

Edwin Hunter Pendleton Arden (February 4, 1864 – October 2, 1918) was an actor, theatre manager, and playwright.

He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Richard Arden and Mary Berkeley Huntingdon Smith. After a common-school education he traveled west and worked in a number of fields, including as a mine-helper, cowboy, railroad brakeman, clerk, reporter, and theatre manager. In 1882, he made his debut as an actor with Thomas Keene's Shakespeare company. The next year, in 1883, he married Agnes Ann Eagleson Keene. Around this time, he wrote several plays, including "The Eagle's Nest", "Raglan's Way", "Barred Out", and "Zorah". He worked with a number of theatrical companies over the next thirty years, performing in such works as Edmond Rostand's "L'Aiglon", Victorien Sardou's "Fédora", and in an all-star production of "Romeo and Juliet" at the Knickerbocker Theatre in New York. In his later years, he had his own stock theatre company in Washington, D.C.

infobox actor

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birthdate=birth date|1864|2|4
birthplace=St. Louis, Missouri
deathdate=death date and age|1918|10|2|1864|2|4
occupation=Stage actor

Obituary

EDWIN ARDEN DROPS DEAD

Was Famous Actor and Playwright of the American Stage

(From the New York Sun)

Edwin Hunter Pendleton ARDEN, who dropped dead yesterday, was one of the best-known actors and playwrights of the American Stage.

Mr. ARDEN began his dramatic career in the support of Thomas W. Keene in Chicago in 1882. He was born in St. Louis and educated in the public schools there. New York first knew him in 1883 when he appeared with the Madison Square Theater Company in "Young Mrs. Winthrop." Later in the same season he was in "The Russian Honeymoon" company. He next went to the Boston Museum Company in the support of Edwin Booth, Dion Boucicault and John Gilbert, and the next season found him with the Edwin Booth Company.

He appeared in a round of legitimate parts in New York in 1885 and from 1886 to 1895 toured the country at the head of his own company, which presented an extensive repertoire, including many plays which were written by Arden himself. Among his plays were "Eagle’s Nest," "Barred Out," "Raglan’s Way" and "Night and Morning."

It was said that his father was an officer on the staff of General Sherman and later an editor with the St. Louis Republican, and his stage connection was said to have been due to the fact that his father was named as receiver for the Grand Opera House in St. Louis and ARDEN, then a mere boy, was detailed to look after the finances of the company then playing at the house. It was during this work that he met Keene, who took a fancy to him and offered him an opening with his company.

Thomas W. Keene, Dion Boucicault, Edwin Booth, Clara Morris, John Gilbert, William H. Crane, Julia Arthur, Elsie Ferguson, Marie Tempest, Viola Allen and Mme. Simone were a few of the stage folk with whom he had been associated before the day came when the versatile genius of the legitimate went to the movies.

One of his most notable moving-picture engagements was in "The Exploits of Elaine." Since his advent in the screen work Mr. ARDEN had done much work, both as a writer of plays and as an actor. He had been rehearsing during the last three weeks with "The Three Wise Men," which is to open soon.

References

*Johnson, Allen, editor. "Dictionary of American Biography". New York:Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964.
*ibdb|30065
*Obituary http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~oldnewspapers/balt_news_misc_10_4_18.htm