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A powerfully built, mustachioed stage star of the old school, Wilton Lackaye played the title role in Nero (1890), Svengali in Trilby (1895), and Simon Legree in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1901). He entered films with World in 1914 and re-created his Svengali for director Maurice Tourneur in the still extant Trilby (1915). Well received at the time, it was the highlight of a screen career mainly spent in supporting roles. From a theatrical family, Lackaye was the husband of actress Ruth Lackaye, brother of actors James Lackaye and Helen Lackaye, and the father of actor-playwright Wilton Lackaye Jr. His final Broadway appearance seems to have been opposite old pal Alice Brady in a fairly successful production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country (1930).