William Anderson (theatre)

William Anderson (14 January 1868 – 16 August 1940) was a notable Australian theatre entrepreneur.

William Anderson
Anderson c. 1914
Born14 January 1868 (1868)
Sandhurst (Bendigo), Victoria, Australia
Died16 August, 1940 (aged 71–72)
St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Resting placeMelbourne General Cemetery
NationalityAustralian
Occupationtheatre entrepreneur
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1898)​
ChildrenMary Anderson
Parent(s)James Anderson, Jane Matthews
For other people of a similar name, see William Anderson.

He left school at age ten and eventually found work as a theatre manager, marrying the actress Eugenie Duggan. He established two theatre companies, opened Wonderland City in Sydney and built the Kings Theatre in Melbourne.[1] He produced several classics of the Australian stage including Thunderbolt (1905), The Squatter's Daughter (1907) (which he filmed in 1910) and The Man from Outback (1909), as well as co-writing several plays.

Anderson worked with such actors and writers as Edmund Duggan, Bert Bailey, Olive Wilton and Roy Redgrave and for a time his private secretary was Beaumont Smith. The financial failure of Wonderland City cost him his personal fortune, but he remained involved in theatre productions until the end of his life.[2]

Selected credits

References
  1. Wonderland City Waverly City Library
  2. William Anderson at Australian Dictionary of Biography


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