Jefferson, Thomas Lockyer

Thomas JeffersonThomas Lockyer Jefferson (1856-1932) was elected to The Lambs in 1908 as a Non-Resident member. He was given Lifetime status. He was the second son of beloved Lamb Joseph Jefferson. He was born September 10, 1856, in New York, to Jefferson and his first wife, actress Margaret Clements Lockyer (1832–1861).

As a boy he traveled with his parents and performed many parts. When his father launched “Rip Van Winkle” he was cast as a young demon. For college he was sent to Paris for two or three years. After leaving school, he joined a pantomime company in Birmingham, England. As a member of the company he played Columbine, the clown, Harlequin, and practically every other part in the season in succession.  Then the management, desirous of introducing a novelty act, and knowing young Jefferson to be somewhat of a skater, proposed to him that he should do a turn on rollerskates. He consented immediately and was billed as a Russian skater. He wore a full Russian fur costume when he rolled himself on the stage for the first time as a skater. The  audience gave him a round of applause. But then Tom tripped out of the ring and pitched headlong, almost into the orchestra. That ended his career as a skater. He returned to New York not long after.

In the 1890s he served as his father’s traveling manager. In November 1898 he took over for his ailing father in a road company tour of “Rip Van Winkle.” A critic wrote,

“Thomas Jefferson has played many and diverse roles, and in his day, he has never yet played Rip Van Winkle. Yet in his rehearsals for the part, he has displayed an insight into subtleties that has surprised a few outsiders who have been privileged to be present. Moreover, when made up, his Rip van Winkle is startlingly like that of his father. There’s also an amazing similarity in the voices of the two men, and the elder actor’s figure is so nearly duplicated by the younger one that he wore identical costumes, worn for years by his father in the part.”

Thomas would go on to play Rip for the next 25 years. He was a member of D.W. Griffith’s company. He made almost 60 films during his long career.

He married Eugenia Paul on August 21, 1879, in Washington Township, New Jersey. They were the parents of at least two sons and three daughters. In 1928 he married actress Daisy Robinson in Las Vegas.

Thomas Lockyer Jefferson died April 02, 1932, in Los Feliz, California. He was 75 years old. He is interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in an unmarked grave.