George Cochrane Hazelton was an American actor and playwright who achieved prominence on the American stage during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Boscobel, Wisconsin, in 1868, Hazelton initially pursued a career in acting. He performed alongside some of the most celebrated theatrical figures of his era, including Lawrence Barrett, Edwin Booth, and Helena Modjeska, gaining valuable experience in classical and contemporary drama that would later inform his writing.
Transitioning from acting to playwriting, Hazelton made his literary debut with The Raven: The Love Story of Edgar Allan Poe. This romanticized biographical drama was well-received and was later adapted into a motion picture. He followed this initial effort with the historical comedy Mistress Nell in 1900, which proved to be a major commercial and critical success, establishing him as a significant new voice in American theater.
Hazelton's most enduring contribution to the stage was The Yellow Jacket, a play he co-authored with J. Harry Benrimo in 1912. Designed to evoke the performance style of traditional Chinese theater, the play became a global phenomenon and was staged worldwide. Over the years, it attracted numerous notable performers, including the theatrical duo Mr. and Mrs. Charles Coburn and the comedian Harpo Marx. Hazelton spent his remaining years in the theatrical community until his death in New York in 1921.
