![]() Hill fled first to the Isle of Wight to escape justice and then on to France, leaving Mohun to stand trial before the House of Lords. The jealous Hill was convinced Mountfort and Bracegirdle were in a relationship, and as the actor tried to intervene in the abduction, Hill killed him with his sword. She took the role of Othello’s doomed wife, Desdemona, while Mountfort played Cassio, his loyal lieutenant. Mountfort not only knew Bracegirdle well they were actors together in the same company performing Othello on Drury Lane. The plot was foiled when Mountfort stumbled across the scene – but not without bloodshed. With his accomplice Charles Mohun, the 4th Baron Mohun, who was 17, Hill tried to bundle Bracegirdle into a carriage, planning to whisk her away and make her his own. She had attracted the unwanted attentions of Captain Richard Hill, an army officer at the tender age of 16. ![]() The real-life plot began as Anne Bracegirdle, one of the first leading ladies of the English stage, walked home on London’s Strand from a dinner party. The rare 1655 version of Othello with a cast list that includes murdered actor William Mountfort. ![]()
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