Theodor (properly Häring) Döring

* 09.01.1803 in Warsaw; ✝ 17.08.1878 in Berlin

Actor

Biography

Born the son of a salt-inspector, he found employment with a commercial company in Berlin, then joined a company of travelling players. Between 1825 and 1845 he played at various venues in Mainz, Mannheim, Hamburg and Stuttgart, among other places, before going to Berlin to take over from Carl Seydelmann at the Royal Theatre in 1845.

Döring played countless roles, in accordance with prevailing theatrical custom; in Berlin alone he played approximately 290 roles in the course of 4900 performances. He was most celebrated for his character acting in the comic roles of, amongst others, Falstaff, Tartuffe and Shylock, the latter being included in this list due to the historical understanding of Shakespeare’s figures. As a character actor he played numerous other Shakespeare parts, and his Iago and Polonius (he is supposed to have played the latter alone no less than 107 times between 1846 and 1877) were particularly famous. He was well-known throughout the German speaking world on account of his many guest appearances.

Shakespeare Roles

• Polonius (Hamlet)
• Shylock (The Merchant of Venice)
• Lear (King Lear)
• Iago (Othello)
• Richard III (Richard III)
• Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
• Crabapple (Much Ado About Nothing)
• Malvolio (As You Like It)

Literature

Secondary Literature

• Petzsch, Christoph: „Döring, Theodor“. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie, 4 (1959). P. 33 [Online Version]. Url: www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd116168773.html.
• Wexel, Carl: Theodor Döring als Mensch und Künstler. Blätter der Erinnerung. Berlin, 1878.

Album pages with this person

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