Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hart, Charles (d.1683)
HART, CHARLES (d. 1683), actor, was the eldest son of William Hart, the eldest of Shakespeare's sister Joan. He was apprenticed to Richard Robinson, a well-known actor, and in his early years played female parts, one of which was the Duchess in Shirley's tragedy of the 'Cardinal.' This play was first performed at the private house in Blackfriars, and according to Sir Henry Herbert's manuscript was licensed 25 Nov. 1641. If Hart was the original Duchess, this disposes of the assertion of Dr. Doran (Annals, i. 47, ed. Lowe), that he was seventeen years of age in 1647. Wright's' Historia Histrionica' simply states that Hart and Clun were bred up boys at the Blackfriars and acted women's parts, that Hart was Robinson's boy, and that the part of the Duchess in the 'Cardidal' was 'the first that gave him any reputation.' At the outbreak of the civil war Hart became a lieutenant of horse under Sir Thomas Dallison in Prince Rupert's regiment. After the defeat of the king he took part in performances at the Cockpit, another of the so-called private houses where 'they had pits for the gentry and acted by candlelight' (Historia Histrionica). In the winter of 1647 they were playing the 'Bloody Brother' (Rollo, duke of Normandy) of Beaumont and Fletcher, in which Hart is believed to have been Otto, when they were surprised by foot soldiers and carried in their stage dresses to prison in Hatton House. After a time they were stripped of their clothes and dismissed. They then acted privately at Holland House and other residences of noblemen three or four miles out of town, where the owners and visitors used to make a contribution, each giving 'a broad piece or the like.' At the Restoration Hart acted at the theatre in Vere Street, which opened 8 Nov. 1660 (Chalmers). Here he was the original Dorante in the 'Mistaken Beauty, or the Lyar,' an adaptation of 'Le Menteur' of Corneille. Dryden says of this performance that the part of Dorante was 'acted [to] so much advantage as I am confident it never received in its own country' (An Essay of Dramatic Poetry, ed. 1693, p. 25). With the company of Killigrew, Hart went in 1663 to the Theatre Royal, where he played Demetrius in the 'Humorous Lieutenant,' with which on 8 April the theatre opened, and Michael Perez in 'Rule a Wife and have a Wife.' He remained with this company until the union of the two companies in 1682. His original parts included Cortez in Dryden's 'Indian Emperor,' 1665; Wildblood in the 'Mock Astrologer,' 22 Jan. 1668; Almanzor in the two parts of the 'Conquest of Granada,' 1670; Ranger in Wycherley's 'Love in a Wood;' Horner in the ' Country Wife,' presumably 1673; and Manly in the 'Plain Dealer,' 1674. In 1675 he played the heroes of Lee's 'Nero' and Dryden's 'Aurengzebe;' and in 1677 Antony in Dryden's 'All for Love.' He was the original of other heroes of Dryden and Lee; played Othello, Cassio, Brutus, Hotspur, and took leading parts in plays of Ben Jonson and Beaumont and Fletcher. Hart ranked as an excellent actor. Downes says of him: 'Mr. Hart in the part of Arbaces in "King and no King," Amintor in the "Maid's Tragedy," Othello, Rollo, Brutus in "Julius Caesar," Alexander; towards the latter end of his acting, if he acted in any one of these but once in a fortnight the house was filled as at a new play (Roscius Anglicanus, p. 16). 'One of the court was pleased' to say after his performance of Alexander that 'Hart might teach any king on earth how to comport himself (ib.) His comedy is said to have been not inferior, his great parts being Mosca, Don John in the 'Chances,' and Wildblood in the 'Mock Astrologer.'
Steele in No. 138 of the 'Tatler' says: 'I have heard my old friend Mr. Hart speak it as an observation among the players, "that it is impossible to act with grace except the actor has forgot that he is before an audience."' Hart is reported to have been the first lover of Nell Gwyn [q. v.], whom he brought on the stage. Pepys often mentions him. On 7 April 1668 he hears from Mrs. Knipp 'that my Lady Castlemaine is mightily in love with Hart,' that he is much with her in private, and that 'she do give him many presents.' Betterton praises Hart's performances, and did not until after Hart's retirement take the character of Hotspur, in which Hart stood very high. Hart and Mohun were the principal members of Killigrew's company, holding possession of the Theatre Royal. Davies speaks of them as 'the managers of the king's theatre' (Dramatic Miscellanies, iii. 154); but Killigrew's name is always accepted as that of the manager. At the union of the two companies the memorandum is signed 14 Oct. 1681 by 'Charles Hart, gent.,' and' Edward Kynaston, gent.' By this Hart and Kynaston were to receive five shillings a day for life for every day with certain limitations on which the company should act. Before this time Hart seems, on account of infirmities, to have practically retired. He died of stone, and was buried, 20 Aug. 1683, at Stanmore Magna, Middlesex, where he had a country house. He was enrolled a copyholder in 1679, but there is no memorial to him in the churchyard where he was buried.
[Most trustworthy information concerning Hart is stored in the Historia Histrionica, the Roscius Anglicanus, and Pepys' Diary, whence it is filtered through Davies's Dramatic Miscellanies, Gencst. Doran, and subsequent writers. Thorne's Handbook to the Environs of London supplies some particulars.]