Who played the title role in the lost silent film based on a tragedy first performed in 1607 by the King's Men?
Cleopatra (1917 film) Cleopatra (1917) was an American silent historical drama film based on H. Rider Haggard's 1889 novel "Cleopatra" and the plays "Cleopatre" by Émile Moreau and Victorien Sardou and "Antony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare. The film starred Theda Bara in the title role, Fritz Leiber, Sr. as Julius Caesar, and Thurston Hall as Mark Antony. The film is now considered lost, with only fragments surviving.
John Rich (producer) John Rich (1692–1761) was an important director and theatre manager in 18th-century London. He opened the New Theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields (1714), which he managed until he opened the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (1732). He managed Covent Garden until 1761, putting on ever more lavish productions. He introduced pantomime to the English stage and played a dancing and mute Harlequin himself from 1717 to 1760 under the stage name of "Lun." Rich's version of the servant character, Arlecchino, moved away from the poor, disheveled, loud, and crude character, to a colorfully-dressed, silent Harlequin, performing fanciful tricks, dances and magic. The British idea of the Harlequin character was heavily inspired by Rich’s idea of a silent character. Rich’s choice of being a silent character was influenced by his unappealing voice, which he was well aware of.