actor-manager

American  

[ak-ter-man-uh-jer] / ˈæk tərˈmæn ə dʒər /

noun

1. a leading actor who produces and usually stars in their own productions.

   Sir Henry Irving was one of the first actor-managers.

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Etymology

Origin of actor-manager

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Eventually, according to Kelly Burdick Carter — Brandon’s wife — a management committee of six department managers, representing production, engagement and other units, replaced the actor-manager model as the company’s essential supervisors.

From Washington Post • Oct. 6, 2021

A chance meeting with the noted actor-manager Henry Baynton saw him enrolled at Rada in 1949.

From BBC • Jun. 19, 2020

Be warned: You may be asked to take part in the rehearsal of a pastiche Elizabethan play, overseen by an actor-manager dressed in the image of William Shakespeare.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2017

Increasingly, the production begins to resemble a standoff between Sir Henry Irving, the Victorian-era actor-manager, and the auteur world of Peter Brook.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2016

Rehnhjelm supposed factory to be a slang expression for theatre, but the porter explained to him that the actor-manager was also a match manufacturer.

From The Red Room by Strindberg, August