Karl August Devrient was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 stage actor best known for performances of Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

 and Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

. He was related to other notable German actors, including:

• his uncle Ludwig
  Ludwig Devrient
  Ludwig Devrient was a German actor, noted for his playing in the works of Shakespeare and Schiller.Devrient, who was born in Berlin, left a commercial career for the stage in 1804. He was a member of a notable theatrical family. His three nephews were actors...
  
  ;
• his brothers Philipp Eduard
  Eduard Devrient
  Eduard Devrient was a German baritone, librettist, playwright, actor, theatre director and theatre reformer and historian.Devrient came from a theatrical family...
  
   and Gustav Emil
  Emil Devrient
  Gustav Emil Devrient was a German actor and an occasional operatic bass.-Life:Gustav Emil Devrient was the youngest son of the six children of the silk merchant Tobias Philipp Devrient and his wife Marie Charlotte...
  
  ;
• his wife, operatic soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
  Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
  Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, born Wilhelmine Schröder , was a German operatic soprano. As a singer she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as in opera.- Biography :Schröder was born in Hamburg, the daughter of the...
  
  ;
• his sons, Friedrich and Max;
• his nephew, Otto
  Otto Devrient
  Otto Devrient was a German actor and playwright.Devrient was the son of Philipp Eduard Devrient. He first went on stage in 1856, training in Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig...
  
  .

There is a collection relating to his life at the Österreichisches Theatermuseum

Austrian Theatre Museum

The Austrian Theatre Museum, or Österreichisches Theatermuseum, is the national museum of theatre history in Austria. It is situated in the Palais Lobkowitz in Vienna.-History:...

.

Brief Biography

Devrient was born in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. Prior to his acting life, he was a cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 officer and fought with the Hussar

Hussar

Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....

s against Napoleon

Napoleon I

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 at Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. He died in Bad Lauterberg

Bad Lauterberg

Bad Lauterberg is a town in the district of Osterode, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km southwest of Braunlage, and 20 km southeast of Osterode am Harz....

.

Stage career

Devrient had his acting debut in 1819 in Braunschweig

Braunschweig

Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....

 and went on to great success in the theaters of Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, where he met Wilhelmine. He later performed in Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 and Hanover. His best-known roles were Wallenstein

Wallenstein (play)

Wallenstein is the popular designation for a trilogy of dramas by German author Friedrich Schiller. It consists of the plays Wallenstein's Camp with a lengthy prologue, The Piccolomini , and Wallenstein's Death...

, Goethe's Faust

Goethe's Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...

, and King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

.