William Mountfort

William Mountfort, who died in 1692, was an English actor and dramatic writer associated with the Restoration stage. Sources consistently describe him as the son of a Staffordshire gentleman, and note that he appeared with the Dorset Garden company while still young, building a reputation by the early 1680s in elegant leading roles.

Alongside acting, he wrote plays, prologues, and epilogues, and is remembered as one of the busy theatrical figures of his moment rather than only as a performer. He also married the actress Susanna Percival, better known as Susanna Verbruggen, linking him to another well-known theatrical career of the period.

His death made his name especially memorable. Mountfort was killed on 10 December 1692 in an attack connected with the notorious nobleman Charles Mohun after an attempted abduction involving the actress Anne Bracegirdle, giving his story the kind of drama that seems drawn from the stage itself.