Hicks was born in
St Helier on the island of
Jersey. At the age of nine, he appeared as Little Buttercup in
Gilbert and Sullivan's
H.M.S. Pinafore at his school in
Bath. After that, he was determined to be an actor.
Early career Hicks first appeared professionally on stage at the age of sixteen in a production of
In the Ranks at the Grand, Islington. In 1889, he joined the theatrical company of
Mr. and
Mrs. Kendal for an American tour where they presented a repertory of contemporary plays. Hicks starred as Dr. Watson in the first revue show ever staged in London,
Under the Clock (1893), a parody of
Sherlock Holmes and Watson written by Hicks with
Charles Brookfield (who played Holmes), at the
Royal Court Theatre. That same year, he married
Ellaline Terriss. After that, he starred in a revival of
Little Jack Sheppard at the
Gaiety Theatre, London. This brought him to the attention of the impresario
George Edwardes. In 1894, Hicks joined his wife in the successful "Fairy
pantomime",
Cinderella, produced by
Henry Irving at the
Lyceum Theatre with music by Oscar Barrett, where she had been playing the title role. He played Thisbe, one of Cinderella's half-sisters who, in this version, were "
Girton College girls who can jabber Greek and Latin, read French, play golf, and indulge in manly exercises. Thisbe has an affectation for intellectuality – Ibsen, Spooks, and the new humor." Edwardes gave Hicks the chance to star in his next show,
The Shop Girl (1894), which became a hit at the Gaiety in 1894, playing for 546 performances. Hicks's wife joined Edwardes's company during the run of the show, replacing the star in the title role, and together they made the musical an even bigger hit. The following year, Hicks transferred with the show to
Broadway for a short run and then toured in America in 1895 with his wife, where they befriended the American novelist
Richard Harding Davis. At the instance of
W. S. Gilbert, Hicks wrote a drama called
One of the Best, a vehicle for his father-in-law
William Terriss at the
Adelphi Theatre, based on the famous
Dreyfus trial. The Hickses were frequent guests of Gilbert at his estate in
Grim's Dyke. Hicks hurried back from America for the opening in December 1895. It ran for over a year. Another early success for the young couple was
The Circus Girl (1896). Hicks and Terriss both had a comedy background, and they transformed the "lovers" roles in the new genre of Edwardian musicals from overly sentimental to mischievous and light-hearted characters exchanging witty banter. Hicks then worked as co-author on
The Yashmak and then on one of the Gaiety Theatre's most successful shows,
A Runaway Girl (1898), in which Terriss played the title role. This was followed by
With Flying Colours (1899). Also in 1899, Hicks starred as the Duc De Richelieu in
A Court Scandal, a comedy adapted by Aubrey Boucicault and Osmond Shillingford from
Les Premières Armes de Richelieu by
Dumanoir, at the Court Theatre. The same year, he and Terriss adopted a daughter, Mabel, and Terriss gave birth to their second child, Elizabeth ("Betty), in 1904. They then joined forces with producer
Charles Frohman and, in his company, over a period of seven years, they played the leads in a series of musicals written by Hicks, including
Bluebell in Fairyland (1901 with music by
Walter Slaughter and lyrics by
Charles Taylor – this Christmas show for children was continually revived for the next four decades) and
The Cherry Girl (1902). Hicks and Terriss also starred in
Quality Street in 1902. At that time, they moved to a new home, The Old Forge, at Merstham, Surrey. Their cul-de-sac was renamed "Quality Street". Hicks also wrote the highly successful
The Earl and the Girl (1903) and the successful
The Catch of the Season (1904 with
Herbert Haines and Taylor). Ellaline was pregnant with Betty, and so
Zena Dare originated the leading role in
The Catch of the Season until Terriss could assume the role. Dare's sister
Phyllis Dare left the stage abruptly in 1905 and a Frederick Henry Wolfries spread rumours that she was pregnant by Hicks, and Hicks received written and verbal abuse for his alleged conduct. In November 1906, Wolfries appeared at the Liverpool
Assizes accused of libelling Hicks, while passing himself off as Dare's brother. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight months' imprisonment. Hicks wrote, and Frohman produced,
The Talk of the Town (1905 with Haines and Taylor),
The Beauty of Bath (1906 with Haines and Taylor; the show included additional lyrics by newcomer
P. G. Wodehouse and additional music by
Jerome Kern),
My Darling (1907 with Haines), and
The Gay Gordons (1907). Hicks used some of the fortune he received from these shows to build the
Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and the
Hicks Theatre in 1906, which was renamed the "Globe Theatre" in 1909 and then the "Gielgud Theatre" in 1994.
The Beauty of Bath was the first production at the theatre.
Later stage work '' In
The Dashing Little Duke (1909; with
C. Hayden Coffin,
Courtice Pounds and
Louie Pounds), produced by Hicks at the Hicks Theatre, which was less successful, Hicks' wife played the title role (a woman playing a man). When she missed several performances due to illness, Hicks played the role – possibly the only case in musical theatre history where a husband succeeded to his wife's role. The piece was based on
A Court Scandal, in which Hicks had played in 1899. Hicks then wrote and starred in
Captain Kidd (1910), an adaptation with music and lyrics by
Leslie Stuart and
Adrian Ross, of the American farce
The Dictator (1904 by
Richard Harding Davis). This flopped, bringing an end to the era of supremacy in London's musical theatre of Hicks and Terriss. Hicks appeared in his first
Shakespeare play that year,
Richard III. The same year, he penned the first of several autobiographies. The following year, he took a company on a tour of South Africa. After the outbreak of
World War I, Hicks was the first British actor to bring a tour to France (with Terriss), giving concerts to British troops at the front. Because of this, he was awarded the
French Croix de Guerre. Hicks was briefly declared bankrupt in 1915. Hicks and Terriss concentrated on comedy roles and music hall tours in later years, including
Pebbles on the Beach (1912), singing and dancing 'Alexander's Ragtime Band'. Their one return to musical comedy,
Cash on Delivery (1917), confirmed the public's preference for comedy revues and music hall. Hicks continued to write light, escapist comedies, such as
The Happy Day (1916),
Sleeping Partners (1917) and, after the war, satiric farces, such as
Good Luck and
Head Over Heels (1923) and adaptations of French farces (
The Man in Dress Clothes). In 1931, he was awarded the
Legion of Honour for his promotion of French drama on the English stage. Hicks was
knighted in 1935. In 1934, he had taken over
Daly's Theatre in London, where he produced and appeared in a series of successful plays including
Vintage Wine that he and
Ashley Dukes adapted from a novel. He also directed and appeared in
The Miracle Man at the
Victoria Palace Theatre. He decided in 1923 to produce his own films. His first film, in which he starred, was
Always Tell Your Wife, which was based on one of his plays. While making that film, Hicks fired the director and hired an unknown young director to make his debut:
Alfred Hitchcock. Hicks directed
Sleeping Partners (1930) and
Glamour (1931). In addition, over a dozen films were made either from his plays or his scripts, and he starred in about twenty films, many with his wife. One of his early films was
Money for Nothing (1932)
Frank Nugent of
The New York Times called
Scrooge "a faithful, tender and mellow edition" of
A Christmas Carol. "Sir Seymour's portrayal of Scrooge is, of course, the highlight of the photoplay". William Boehnel of the
New York World Telegram wrote, "[Hicks offers] ... a performance that brings Scrooge to life on the screen exactly as Dickens imagined him". The finished film ran eight reels (78 minutes), but for more than 40 years a 1941 abridged abridged, six-reel (60-minute) version was the only way the film could be seen. Local television stations in the U.S. aired it around Christmas in the 1940s. In the early 1980s, with the advent of home video and the spread of cable TV stations showing public domain movies, the film became familiar to a new generation of viewers.
The Learning Channel acquired the original 78-minute version and broadcast it in 1984. ==Death==