Nathaniel Carl Goodwin (1857-1919) was born in Boston and made his first stage appearance in 1873 in Boston. He made an immediate success by his imitations of popular actors. He married Eliza Weathersby, an English actress with whom he played in B. E. Woollfs Hobbies. It was not until 1889, however, that Nat Goodwins talent as a comedian began to be recognized. He played several Shakespeare roles, including the Shylock in the Merchant of Venice (1901), and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1903). One of his great successes was as Fagan in Dicken's Oliver Twist. In 1914 he published his autobiography Nat Goodwin's Book