Talk:Ira Aldridge

Mathews/Matthews

"Mathews" is certainly the correct spelling, but I see "Matthews" in a quote. Is the misspelling in the passage being quoted (in which case we should add "[sic]"), or did someone typo here? - Jmabel | Talk 01:29, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

von Brandt

Is there any support for Amanda von Brandt (other than the von in her surname) being a noblewoman?

I will be in Sweden next month and am more than casually curious. Robert Greer (talk) 18:32, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Not a countess

Amanda Brandt was not a countess (grevina, in Swedish) and merely added the von to her name when she left Sweden.

To which she never returned! Robert Greer (talk) 23:18, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Russian

Is there any reference available concerning his having learned Russian?

It was common for English stage stars to tour the Continent and perform, particularly Shakespeare, in English.

The rest of the cast performing in the native language of the audience. Robert Greer (talk) 23:32, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Sources, Keep to Point

Sources and references should be inline cites, rather than always being referred to in text, which breaks up the flow of the article. Deleted lengthy material about Mathews and Hewlett, as it is more appropriate for their articles than this one.Parkwells (talk) 15:55, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

There seems to be a perfectly adequate number of inline citations now, so I removed the no-cites flag that dated back to 2009. Poihths (talk) 14:25, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

OPED

Delete OPED expressions: "actually".Parkwells (talk) 15:55, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

File:Ira Aldridge as Aaron in Titus Andronicus.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Ira Aldridge as Aaron in Titus Andronicus.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on February 1, 2011. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2011-02-01. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :) Thanks! howcheng {chat} 18:19, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Picture of the day

An engraving made from a daguerreotype of Ira Aldridge (1807–1867) in the role of Aaron from William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Aldridge was an African American actor who made his career largely in Europe due to persistent racism in the United States. He began acting with the African Grove theatre in New York City, and moved to London in the early 1820s, where he soon began receiving critical acclaim for his performances, most notably for Othello. He then was cast in several roles of specifically white characters, such as the title role in Richard III, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. He was so renowned that he is the only African American to be included among the 33 actors honored at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.Daguerreotype: William Paine; Image: London Printing and Publishing Co; Restoration: Adam Cuerden

Problems with dates?

Looking at this article and those about Mr. Aldridge's wives, I see inconsistencies. (I haven't even checked the articles for his children!) This article says he married Ms. Gill in 1824; the Gill article says 1825. Both those articles imply that the Aldridge-Gill marriage ended with her death. Both this article and the Brandt article imply or state that only Aldridge's FIRST child (by Brandt) was born during his marriage with Gill. But the birth dates for his children indicate that the first THREE children were born before 1864 (the end of his marriage with Gill IF it was ended by her death). For certain, his first three children with Brandt were born before his marriage to Brandt, so "The next year, on April 20, 1865, Aldridge married his mistress, the self-styled Swedish countess Amanda von Brandt, with whom he already had a son, Ira Daniel. They had four more children: ..." is surely wrong; they already had three of the children at the time of the marriage.

Can this be fixed?

68.113.198.121 (talk) 09:51, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

I agree. It states that he married Brandt in 1865 and had four children with her (5th died in infancy). He died in 1867. That's a lot of kids in the two years. 2600:1702:4250:3E60:C452:8BA8:2A80:E4E9 (talk) 12:19, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Wrong Tolstoy

The article had Aldridge meeting Lev Tolstoy (the novelist), who was still in his twenties in January 1858 and spending his time trying to decide whether he was in love with Alexandra Obolenskaya or Tyutchev's daughter Katerina. The reference should be to Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, the aged vice president of the Academy of Arts, whose daughter Ekaterina described how he visited their house and met Shevchenko there (reference, in Russian). I have corrected the link accordingly. Languagehat (talk) 20:13, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

article: The 19th-Century African-American Actor Who Conquered Europe

• The 19th-Century African-American Actor Who Conquered Europe  Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 05:14, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Legacy and honors

"received [...] the Maltese Cross from Bern, Switzerland": This is probably embellishment on Aldridge's part. Theoretically, "from Bern, Switzerland" could mean the Canton of Bern or the City of Bern. Neither is known for awarding decorations, and certainly not in the form of the predominantly catholic Maltese cross (Canton and City still being predominantly protestant in the 19th century). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Th. Schmid (talk • contribs) 11:46, 6 October 2022 (UTC)