Brougham, John (1810–1880)

Irish-born US actor, playwright, and manager who moved to the USA in 1842. A popular comedian, specializing in the stock character of the ‘stage Irishman’, he went on to write over 100 plays, including spoofs such as Much Ado about the Merchant of Venice (1869). His adaptation of Dombey and Son in 1848 was a considerable success.

Born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Brougham began his acting career in London. As a theatre manager for the Lyceum Theatre, he was less successful, and moved to New York. He wrote and produced burlesques and musical comedies, and in a legal suit claimed to have co-written London Assurance (1841) with Dion Boucicault. His memoirs and a selection of his writing were published as Life, Stories and Poems of J. B. in 1881.