Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Fox, George L.

FOX, George L., actor, b. in Boston, Mass., 3 July, 1825; d. in Cambridge, 24 Oct., 1877. He made his first appearance in 1830, in the Tremont theatre, Boston, as one of the children in the "Hunter of the Alps," for the benefit of Charles Kean. At the age of twenty-five he jjlayed in the "Demon of the Desert" at the National theatre in New York. At the beginning of the civil war he went as lieutenant of the 8th New York infantry, and took part in the battle of Bull Run. On 26 July, 1861, he left military life, and appeared on the following evening at the new Bowery theatre. He afterward became manager of the old Bowery, and later was associated with Lingard at the new Bowery. In 1867-'8 he was stage manager of the Olympic, and made an immediate success in the part of the clown in the pantomime "Humpty-Dumpty." During the season of 1876 he was playing at Booth's theatre in New York city, when he was stricken with paralysis. Softening of the brain followed, and he ended his days in an asylum.—His brother, Charles Kemble, actor, b. in Boston, Mass., 15 Aug., 1833; d. 17 Jan., 1875, went on the stage at the age of six years, and played the child in the "Carpenter of Rouen" at the old Eagle theatre in Boston. His first appearance in New York was made at the old National theatre, 18 July, 1853, as Cute in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In 1858 he was a member of the company at the old Bowery, and in 1859 was engaged at the new Bowery. He afterward appeared at the Olympic in pantomimes, and at the Globe theatre in Boston, 16 May, 1874, in "Plumpty-Dumpty at Home," that house being then under the management of his brother. Charles Kemble Fox was the author of the pantomime in which both brothers won popularity and fortune.