Esslair, Ferdinand

(1772-1840)

   Actor, director. Esslair became one of the German theater's most renowned Romantic actors, despite his unusual height and lack of "heroic" good looks. "I cannot imagine a hero whose lady love comes up to his navel," said Johann Wolfgang Goethe of Esslair, though others were kinder in their estimation. Contemporary engravings reveal him as a distinctively handsome man, fully believable in heroic roles for which he became famous: Tell, Wallenstein, Lear, Claudius, and even Götz von Berlichingen. Esslair was a member of several provincial ensembles before he joined the Munich Court Theater in 1820 both as an actor and director. He had what many termed an "overpowering" voice. His acting style resembled Ludwig Devrient's to a degree, though Esslair was perhaps more dependable for grandiloquence in gesture.