J. S. Grimaldi

Who is J. S. Grimaldi?

Joseph Samuel William Grimaldi, better known as J. S. Grimaldi or JS Grimaldi, was an English stage actor, comedian and dancer, who frequently played the role of Clown in the harlequinades that accompanied nineteenth-century pantomimes. He was the son of Joseph Grimaldi, who popularised the role of Clown in the early 1800s.

The young Grimaldi began his career in 1814 playing in a version of Don Juan, and in other roles, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres. Throughout his teenage years, he was a successful performer, starring in Harlequin and Fortunio; or, Shing-Moo and Thun-Ton, The Fates; or, Harlequin's Holy Day, and Harlequin and Friar Bacon, but he grew to resent the often unfavourable comparisons made between him and his famous father.

Grimaldi turned increasingly to alcohol over the years, becoming unreliable, abusive and ultimately unemployable. He was mostly unemployed throughout his 20s, making his final appearance in a revival of Don Juan in 1832. He died later that year, at the age of 30.