Jerome Sykes

Jerome Sykes (June 24, 1868 – December 29, 1903) was an American stage actor, singer, and comedian born in Washington, D.C. under the name Henry Karl August Seitz. He grew up in a house on the site where part of the Library of Congress now stands and came from a family of actors, which included his brother Albert S. Sykes.

Sykes made his professional debut during the 1884–1885 season in a production of The Mikado with the Ford Opera Company in Baltimore. His Broadway career spanned from 1897 to 1902, during which he built a reputation as a comedian and singer. One of his most enduring associations was with the character Constable Foxy Quiller, whom he first portrayed in The Highwayman. The role proved popular enough to generate a sequel production titled Foxy Quiller, in which Sykes reprised the character. His other Broadway credits included The Three Dragoons (1899), Chris and the Wonderful Lamp (1900), and Foxy Quiller (In Corsica) (1900).

His greatest Broadway success came with The Billionaire during the 1902–1903 season. The production featured May Robson and Sallie Fisher in its cast and served as the New York debut of Marie Doro. Sykes was married twice, first to Agnes Sherwood, who died in 1896, and later to actress Jessie Wood.

While The Billionaire was being celebrated at a party in Chicago, Sykes contracted pneumonia after being inadequately dressed during winter conditions and died at the age of 35. His body was temporarily held in a receiving tomb at Greenwood Cemetery before he was buried at St. James Episcopal Cemetery in St. James, New York, where his family had maintained a summer residence for many years.