Joseph Coyne (27 March 1867 – 17 February 1941) was an American-born vaudevillian and musical comedy actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years, from 1883-1931. A popular performer in the U.S., he achieved major stardom in the role of Prince Danilo in George Edwardes' London adaptation of The Merry Widow, which led to other leading roles in Edwardian musical comedy and many other productions in London, New York, and Australia.
Early life and breaking into theater
The son of Irish immigrants James P. Coyne of Queens County, and Margaret Downey of West Meath County, Coyne was born in New York City, the middle of three children. His father worked as a seaman and, later, a waiter, while his mother kept house.
Having shown talent for drawing "and the like," Coyne's parents apprenticed him to a sculptor where his job was to keep the clay moist for modeling, particularly over the weekends. But Coyne so loved the theater that he'd sneak off to watch shows instead of keeping the clay wet, and fled the job after breaking a statue that was supposed to be under his care.
Instead Coyne, having "of his own accord discovered himself as a dancer," went to a casting call for boys who could dance, and was one of six out of hundreds who was cast, thanks to his natural talent. He made his stage debut in New York at 16 as a performer in one of The Kiralfy Brothers spectacular productions (Excelsior 1983-1985). He performed in Excelsior for its year-long run, and went on tour with the show following that.
Coyne spent the next 10 years in Vaudeville, perfecting his comedic skills as half of a duo known as 'Evans and Coyne,' with his friend, actor Frank Evans. They performed in music halls and anywhere else that would book them, including joining a circus and performing in blackface.
Theatrical career
A "real" actor
Coyne first appeared in legitimate theatre in 1895, joining the Rose Lyall Dramatic Company. The years that followed were referred to by Coyne as a period of "arduous stock work in drama," playing in several variety farce-comedies beginning with The District Attorney (1985), and The Good Mr. Best (1897). The work was hard and unrewarding, yet provided great experience.
Joseph's first starring role was in Charles Hale Hoyt's A Stranger in New York at the Garrick Theatre in NY 1897. In 1899 Hale wrote a leading role especially for Coyne in the short-lived The Dog in the Manger at the Washington National Theater. This was followed by roles in The Girl in the Barracks (1899), Star and Garter (1900), The Night of the Fourth (1901).
Somewhere in this timeframe Charles Frohman, who liked to go out in search of talent himself, saw Coyne playing "a very cheap theatre in New York" and knew he had found something special.
London and Broadway and London
Thanks to Charles Frohman's discovery, it was in 1901 that Coyne made his first appearance on the London stage, playing opposite Edna May in Frohman's The Girl from Up There.
Returning to America he got his Broadway break playing the role of Archie in The Toreador (1902). Following that were a string of roles in which he played the "silly-ass" drunken English gentleman to great effect: The Rogers Brothers in London (1903–04), In Newport (1904–05), Abigail (1905), The Rollicking Girl (1905–06), The Social Whirl (1906), and My Lady's Maid (1906). According to the Biographical Dictionary of Dance (1982), Coyne became known for his drunk act and physical comedy: falling down staircases, over tables, and on top of comic leads. It was a typecasting that obscured his other abilities, but one that brought wide recognition.
In 1906, Coyne returned to England with Edna May for his second London West End show, as the comic-aristocrat Billy Rickets in Frohman's Nelly Neil (1907). It was here, on opening night, 10 January 1907, that George Edwardes first saw Joseph Coyne, previously unknown to him, perform, and recognized "the possibilities in this young man who could not sing at all, but who could certainly dance, and who could most certainly act. Edwardes saw Coyne as a new type. His pioneering spirit was awake; here was a complete change from the rather stiff, if handsome and stagily dashing, young man whose voice, as a rule, made his success. This young man had no voice, but he had personality, he had charm, he had individuality. Here was a man who could play Prince Danilo in The Merry Widow as Edwardes now thought it should be played, not as a romantic hero of the light operatic stage, but as a lover in real life with actual flesh and blood and feelings." Edwardes offered Coyne the role that same night, meeting with him in his dressing room after the show.