Colley Cibber

Colley Cibber (1671–1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright, and Poet Laureate (appointed 1730). He became a prominent figure in London theatre, performing as an actor and helping to manage the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Cibber wrote numerous comedies and adaptations, including *Love’s Last Shift* (1696) and *The Careless Husband* (1704), and was known for shaping popular stage taste in the early eighteenth century. He also published the influential autobiography *An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber* (1740), a vivid account of theatrical life and his own career.