DEVRIENT, EMIL

born Sept. 4, 1803, Berlin died Aug. 7, 1872, Dresden, Ger. German actor of the 19th century who gained prominence in youthful heroic parts. Nephew of the great Romantic actor Ludwig Devrient, he made his debut in Brunswick in 1821. By way of Bremen, Leipzig, and Hamburg, he reached Dresden in 1831, where he remained associated with the court theatre there until his retirement in 1868. Devrient's greatest successes were in the title roles of Goethe's Torquato Tasso and Egmont and Shakespeare's Hamlet, which he played to favourable reviews in London in 185253.