Charles Collette

Who was Charles Collette?

Charles Henry Collette was an English stage actor, composer and writer noted for his work in comedy in a long career onstage. He appeared, beginning in the late 1860s, in many Bancroft productions and was engaged by other managers, including J. L. Toole, John Hollingshead, Mary Anderson, Lydia Thompson and Herbert Beerbohm Tree, as well as performing in his own companies. He toured for some years as the title character in F. C. Burnand's The Colonel and played many military men.

Collette continued acting in London and in the British provinces until 1907, a career of nearly four decades, but he is probably best remembered today for the presence of his musical play Cryptoconchoidsyphonostomata on the bill with the historic 1875 premiere of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury.