Howard Kyle (April 22, 1861 â€" December 1, 1950) was an American
stage and screen actor and lecturer active for over 50 years. He was a
founding member and one-time recording-secretary of Actors' Equity and
a sixty-year member of The Players Club. Kyle was perhaps best
remembered for his starring roles in the turn of the century plays Way
Down East, Nathan Hale and John Ermine of the Yellowstone.Born Howard
Anderson Vandergrift at Shullsburg, Wisconsin, Kyle was the son of
Captain Howard Vandergrift, a veteran of the Mexicanâ€"American War
who later served during the American Civil war as the first commander
of the Shullsburg Light Guard, later known as Company I, Third
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. Kyle was later raised in Mt. Carroll,
Illinois where his father may have been a proprietor of H. & C.
Vandergrift, a general merchandising store. Kyle attended the Mt.
Carroll Union School, where he studied Latin and philosophy and was
named valedictorian of the 1879 graduating class. At home Kyle
received private instructions in French and literature and after high
school studied law for two years. By his early teens Kyle had won an
oration competition and acquired a keen interest in the works of
William Shakespeare. He began his acting career in amateur theatre as
Kyle Vandergrift and made his professional stage debut at the age of
23 under the name Howard Kyle.Kyle's debuted as Guildenstern and the
Second Grave Digger in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Meyer's Opera House
in Janesville, Wisconsin, on September 10, 1884. He spent the
following twelve seasons in tours with a number of large classical
repertory companies and made his first appearance in New York in 1887
at the Windsor Theatre as Lucius in the James Sheridan Knowles play
Virginius. During the mid-1890s Kyle played leading man roles with
stock companies in Salt Lake City, Pittsburg and San Francisco. In
late 1897 Kyle began a two-year run at the Manhattan Theatre and
national tour of the Grismer and Parker pastoral play Way Down East,
playing David Bartlett to Phoebe Davies' Anna Moore. During the season
of 1900/01 he played the title role in a successful tour of the Clyde
Fitch romantic drama Nathan Hale, with co-star Nanette Comstock as
Alice Adams. Kyle was Sir Jasper Thorndyke, the lead character in a
1904 tour of Louis Parker's four-act comedy, Rosemary, and the next
year played the title role in a tour of Louis Shipman's adaptation of
the Frederic Remington western, John Ermine of the Yellowstone. Kyle
later toured with Rose Coghlan's company playing Henry Beauclerc to
Coghlan's Countess Zicka in the Victorien Sardou play Diplomacy.Kyle
played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Ivy Ashton Root's The Greater Love
at Madison Square Theatre on March 19, 1906, and on September 30 of
the next year, performed the title role in Henry Arthur Jones' The
Evangelist at the Knickerbocker Theatre. In 1908 Kyle toured as Mr.
Johnson in a vaudeville sketch entitled This Woman and That Man. At
Maxine Elliott's Theatre on February 22, 1909 Kyle played Scarus in
Antony and Cleopatra, and on November 6 played the same part in the
first performance held at the recently built New Theatre. In 1910 Kyle
played Manson, with Henry Miller's Associate Players in Charles Rann
Kennedy's The Servant In the House, and that November 30 acted the
part of Castor, with the Coburn Players in Electra, staged at the
Hudson Theatre.
stage and screen actor and lecturer active for over 50 years. He was a
founding member and one-time recording-secretary of Actors' Equity and
a sixty-year member of The Players Club. Kyle was perhaps best
remembered for his starring roles in the turn of the century plays Way
Down East, Nathan Hale and John Ermine of the Yellowstone.Born Howard
Anderson Vandergrift at Shullsburg, Wisconsin, Kyle was the son of
Captain Howard Vandergrift, a veteran of the Mexicanâ€"American War
who later served during the American Civil war as the first commander
of the Shullsburg Light Guard, later known as Company I, Third
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. Kyle was later raised in Mt. Carroll,
Illinois where his father may have been a proprietor of H. & C.
Vandergrift, a general merchandising store. Kyle attended the Mt.
Carroll Union School, where he studied Latin and philosophy and was
named valedictorian of the 1879 graduating class. At home Kyle
received private instructions in French and literature and after high
school studied law for two years. By his early teens Kyle had won an
oration competition and acquired a keen interest in the works of
William Shakespeare. He began his acting career in amateur theatre as
Kyle Vandergrift and made his professional stage debut at the age of
23 under the name Howard Kyle.Kyle's debuted as Guildenstern and the
Second Grave Digger in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Meyer's Opera House
in Janesville, Wisconsin, on September 10, 1884. He spent the
following twelve seasons in tours with a number of large classical
repertory companies and made his first appearance in New York in 1887
at the Windsor Theatre as Lucius in the James Sheridan Knowles play
Virginius. During the mid-1890s Kyle played leading man roles with
stock companies in Salt Lake City, Pittsburg and San Francisco. In
late 1897 Kyle began a two-year run at the Manhattan Theatre and
national tour of the Grismer and Parker pastoral play Way Down East,
playing David Bartlett to Phoebe Davies' Anna Moore. During the season
of 1900/01 he played the title role in a successful tour of the Clyde
Fitch romantic drama Nathan Hale, with co-star Nanette Comstock as
Alice Adams. Kyle was Sir Jasper Thorndyke, the lead character in a
1904 tour of Louis Parker's four-act comedy, Rosemary, and the next
year played the title role in a tour of Louis Shipman's adaptation of
the Frederic Remington western, John Ermine of the Yellowstone. Kyle
later toured with Rose Coghlan's company playing Henry Beauclerc to
Coghlan's Countess Zicka in the Victorien Sardou play Diplomacy.Kyle
played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Ivy Ashton Root's The Greater Love
at Madison Square Theatre on March 19, 1906, and on September 30 of
the next year, performed the title role in Henry Arthur Jones' The
Evangelist at the Knickerbocker Theatre. In 1908 Kyle toured as Mr.
Johnson in a vaudeville sketch entitled This Woman and That Man. At
Maxine Elliott's Theatre on February 22, 1909 Kyle played Scarus in
Antony and Cleopatra, and on November 6 played the same part in the
first performance held at the recently built New Theatre. In 1910 Kyle
played Manson, with Henry Miller's Associate Players in Charles Rann
Kennedy's The Servant In the House, and that November 30 acted the
part of Castor, with the Coburn Players in Electra, staged at the
Hudson Theatre.
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