Sir Henry Irving An Actor and His World Author:Jeffrey Richards Sir Henry Irving was the greatest actor of the Victorian age. He transformed the theater in Britain and America from a disreputable and marginal entertainment into a respected art form. His admirers ranged from Queen Victoria to working men and housewives. He was thought of by Gladstone as his greatest contemporary and in 1895 became the first a... more »ctor to receive a knighthood. Published to mark the centenary of Irving?s death, this book gives an account not only of Irving himself and of his career, but also of his whole impact on the Victorian Theatre and on Victorian culture.« less