DOWNING, ROBERT

(1857-1944)

   The actor, born in Washington, D.C., encompassed classical tragedy, contemporary vehicles, and vaudeville in his stage career. Among many Shakespearean roles, he played Romeo to Mary Anderson's Juliet. He formed companies to tour Joaquin Miller's Tally Ho, J. C. Nugent's An Indiana Romance, and the temperance melodrama Ten Nights in a Barroom. In 1908, he left the theatre to become an evangelist.