Sam Bernard

Sam Bernard, born Samuel Barnett on 5 June 1863 in Birmingham, England, was an English-born American comedian who worked across vaudeville, musical theatre, comic opera, burlesque, and silent film. He died on 16 May 1927, and his Broadway career spanned from 1899 to that year.

Bernard moved to the United States as a child and began his performing career alongside his brother Dick, the two presenting a song and dance act in Manhattan variety houses. They adopted the stage name Bernard, replacing Barnett, which they felt carried a more suitable ethnic quality for their act. Sam went solo in 1884 and joined B. F. Keith's theatre company in Providence, Rhode Island. Following a brief tour in England, he returned to the United States, performed with the Night Owls comedy troupe, and became a part-owner and leading comedy actor in the French Folly Company.

His friendship with Joe Weber and Lew Fields led to a significant professional arrangement beginning in 1890, when Bernard agreed to manage their troupes, first the Russell Brothers Comedians and then the Vaudeville Club touring company, in which he also starred. In 1896 he became the star performer of the newly formed Weber and Fields' Broadway Music Hall company, appearing regularly in their theatrical sketches, often alongside Weber and Fields themselves. He remained with the company until 1902, with the exception of the 1899–1900 season, during which he starred with Marie Dressler in the musical The Man in the Moon.

After departing Weber and Fields' company, Bernard concentrated primarily on Broadway musicals. In 1903 he appeared in The Girl from Kays, in which he originated the character Mr. Hoggenheimer and starred opposite Hattie Williams. That character carried forward into The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer in 1906. His Broadway credits across this period included The Rollicking Girl in 1905, The Girl and the Wizard in 1909, He Came from Milwaukee in 1910, All for the Ladies in 1912, The Belle of Bond Street in 1914, and The Century Girl in 1916. He also starred in Nearly a Hero and appeared in the play The Girl from Maxim's among other productions.

In 1915, Bernard signed with the Triangle Film Corporation and began appearing in silent films. His screen credits included Fatty and the Broadway Stars alongside Fatty Arbuckle, Poor Schmaltz, The Great Pearl Tangle, and Because He Loved Her. He also appeared in A Janitor's Wife's Temptation and Call a Cop.

Bernard returned to the stage in the revue Friendly Enemies in 1918, followed by As You Were in 1920 and Irving Berlin's Music Box Revue in 1921. He wrote and starred in Nifties of 1923, and continued performing into the final years of his life. Bernard died of apoplexy aboard the SS Columbus after the ship had departed New York bound for Europe.