MANSFIELD

mansfield, richard (1857-1907), american actor, was born on the 24th of may 1857, in berlin, his mother being madame [erminia] rudersdorff (1822-1882), the singer, and his father, maurice mansfield (d. 1861), a london wine merchant. he first appeared on the stage at st george's hall, london, and then drifted into light opera, playing the major-general in _the pirates of penzance_, and the lord high executioner in _the mikado_, both in the english provinces and in america. in 1883 he joined a. m. palmer's union square theatre company in new york, and made a great hit as baron chevrial in _a parisian romance_. he appeared successfully in several plays adapted from well-known stories, and his rendering (1887) of the doubled title-parts in r. l. stevenson's _strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde_ created a profound impression. it was with this play that he made his london reputation during a season (1888) at the lyceum theatre, by invitation of henry irving. he produced richard iii. the next year at the globe. among his other chief successes were _prince karl_, _cyrano de bergerac_ and _monsieur beaucaire_. he was one of the earliest to produce g. bernard shaw's plays in america, appearing in 1894 as bluntschli in _arms and the man_, and as dick dudgeon in _the devil's disciple_ in 1897. as a manager and producer of plays mansfield was remarkable for his lavish staging. he died in new london, connecticut, on the 30th of august 1907. see the lives by paul wilstach (1908) and william winter (1910).