Via Jeffrey
On Dec. 1, 1860, a
handsome and charismatic actor took the stage in Montgomery, playing the
title role in a Shakespearean play. John Wilkes Booth, billed as "Mr.
J. Wilkes Booth," would portray Richard III, a ruler who was overthrown
and murdered, nearly five years before Booth would murder President
Abraham Lincoln.
Adam Goodheart wrote
for The New York Times Opinionator: "Just 22 years old, trim and
athletic, with tousled hair and lustrous eyes, he had an especially
mesmerizing effect on the young ladies of Montgomery... here in the Deep
South, he had finally won the long-sought stardom."
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