William Warren

William Warren (1812–1888) was an American actor. For decades he performed with the theatre at the old Boston Museum.

Warren was born in Philadelphia, the son of actor William Warren and his third wife, Esther Fortune. He was educated at the Franklin Institute, then a boys' school, in that city. After his father's death in 1832, he made his début a week later at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia in the part of Young Norval. His father had been an actor, first in Britain, and began his career on stage with that character. The young Warren first performed in New York City in 1841, in London in 1845, and in Boston in 1846. He played a wide variety of characters, from broad and eccentric comedy to juvenile tragedy, with general acceptance. During the last few years of this period he performed in a company headed by his brother-in-law, John Blake Rice.

In 1847 Warren became a member of the Boston Museum theatre. For decades he performed with that company, with a brief exception, until he retired in 1883. His semi-centennial in 1882 brought out many deserved tributes to an admirable comedian and representative of the best traditions of the stage. In his later years, Warren was praised for his performance in roles of fine old English gentlemen. Through his mother, he was a cousin of American actor Joseph Jefferson and nephew of the former actress Louisa, Countess of Craven, actor John Brunton and actress Anna Ross in England.

Warren was at his best in such roles as Dr. Pangloss in The Heir at Law, Sir Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal, Dr. Primrose and Touchstone in As You Like It.

In December 1853, Warren was accused of shooting Singleton Mercer. He had been the defendant in a sensational attempted murder trial and was acquitted. The events were fictionalized in George Lippard's The Quaker City, or The Monks of Monk Hall. Warren was never charged in the case, and Mercer ultimately recovered from his injury.

Warren died in Boston.

• Mckay and Wingate, Famous American Actors of To-Day (New York, 1896)
• Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1889). "Warren, William (actor)" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.