Will R. Bernard
Will R. Bernard (also known as Will Bernard, fl. 1890-1920) was a professional theatre performer.
It is very possible that this is actually the same person sometimes listed as William H. Bernard
Contents
Biography
According to the Wikipedia entry on his daughter, the silent film actress Dorothy Bernard (1890–1955), William was born in Auckland, New Zealand and presumably started out as an actor in that country. He and his wife (Roy Elizabeth Ayrd) were in South Africa with the Chambers Theatre Company in 1890, their daughter being born in Port Elizabeth.
Bernard subsequently moved to Portland, Oregon in the USA, where he worked as a stock company manager and was a well-respected actor.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
An actor listed as Will R. Bernard is mentioned by D.C. Boonzaier (1923) as a member of the Chambers Theatre Company in Cape Town in 1890, for which he was juvenile lead, playing heroic characters in plays such as The Bells of Haslemere and In the Ranks.
Sources
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stock_actor_William_Bernard_(SAYRE_6949).jpg
D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 390-391, .
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