Othello: American actor John Edward McCullough (1837-1885) as Othello.

John Edward McCullough (1837 –1885) was born in Coleraine, Ireland. He went to America at sixteen, and first appeared at the Arch St. Theatre, Philadelphia, in 1857. In support of Edwin Forrest and Edwin Booth he played roles in Shakespearean and other tragedies, but as Othello he was coldly received in England (1881). On September 29, 1884, he broke down on stage at McVicker's Theater in Chicago, unable to recite his lines, suffering from general paresis. He was committed, and died in an asylum in Philadelphia. His "insane ravings" became popular, and imitated in one of the first audio recordings. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID var.0623. Courtesy of the Yorck Project and Wikipedia, under GNU Free Document License.