David James (actor, born 1839)

David James (born David Belasco; 25 January 1839 – 2 October 1893) was an English comic actor and one of the founders of London's Vaudeville Theatre. He made his stage debut as a child actor at the Princess's Theatre, London under Charles Kean, and appeared in supporting roles at, successively, the Royalty Theatre, where he made his mark in burlesques by F. C. Burnand and others, and then the Strand Theatre, still mainly in burlesque roles but also making an impression as a more serious actor in a revival of Thomas Morton's The Heir at Law.

In 1870 James joined Henry James Montague and Thomas Thorne as the first managers of the newly opened Vaudeville Theatre, where he played mainly in new burlesques and farces but also appeared as Sir Benjamin Backbite in The School for Scandal, a production that ran for more than 400 performances. His most celebrated role was Perkyn Middlewick in H. J. Byron's comedy Our Boys, which ran at the Vaudeville for 1,362 performances. Leaving the Vaudeville in 1881, James freelanced for other managements for most of the rest of his career. One of his best-known parts from this period was the bluff sailor John Dory in John O'Keefe's Wild Oats at the Criterion Theatre in 1886. He also appeared in operetta as the Rev Dr Jackson in Miss Decima.

James died at his London at the age of 56, leaving to charity a fortune of well over £5m in current terms.