Robert Baddeley was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. His parentage is unknown, as is his place of birth, though the latter may have been London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. He worked as a cook and valet, and one of his employers was the actor-manager Samuel Foote

Samuel Foote

Samuel Foote was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager from Cornwall.-Early life:Born into a well-to-do family, Foote was baptized in Truro, Cornwall on 27 January 1720. His father, John Foote, held several public positions, including mayor of Truro, Member of Parliament representing...

, who may have inspired him to take to the stage. He spent three years following another employer on a Grand Tour

Grand Tour

The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...

, which helped him to develop the facility with languages and accents which was to be a hallmark of his career.

In 1760 Baddeley made his stage debut in one of Foote's productions at the Haymarket Theatre

Haymarket Theatre

The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...

 in London. Soon afterwards he trod the boards of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

 and the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin. By 1762 he was a full member of the Drury Lane company, and he remained there for the rest of his career, while also playing summer seasons at the Haymarket. He was a great success in low comedy and servants' parts, and often played comic foreigners such as Canton in The Clandestine Marriage

The Clandestine Marriage

The Clandestine Marriage is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. The idea came from one of William Hogarth's engravings.-Plot summary:...

. In 1777 he played Moses in The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal

The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...

, which came to be the role with which he was most associated.

Baddeley's wife, Sophia Baddeley

Sophia Baddeley

Sophia Baddeley was an English actress, singer and courtesan.- Early life, musical career :She was born in London, the daughter of Valentine Snow, a sergeant-trumpeter. As a child, she was trained by her father for a future musical career. At the age of eighteen she eloped with the actor Robert...

, exceeded him in fame. The couple had a troubled relationship. At one point Baddeley insisted that Sophia stop living with one Doctor Hayes, and in the financial negotiations that followed Baddeley ended up fighting a duel with David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

's brother and business manager George, who had disputed his version of events. No one was injured and a separation was agreed.

Baddeley continued acting until just before his death. A sufferer of epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, he was taken ill on 19 November 1794 while preparing to play Moses in The School for Scandal and he died the following day. He bequeathed £3 per annum to provide wine and cake in the green room

Green room

In British English and American English show business lexicon, the green room is that space in a theatre, a studio, or a similar venue, which accommodates performers or speakers not yet required on stage...

 of Drury Lane Theatre on Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night (holiday)

Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...

. The ceremony of the "Baddeley Cake" has remained a regular institution.