Trivia

He has no living descendants. His family line ended in 1670 with the death of his granddaughter Elizabeth Hall Nash Barnard, who bore no children.

His play "Macbeth" is considered by many professional actors to be cursed. Productions are often plagued by bad luck. The most superstitious of actors believe that the mere mention of the play's name is enough to cause disaster. To avoid this, they refuse to mention the play by name, calling it "The Scottish Play" instead.

Listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records" as having the most screen adaptations by a single author. The record for adaptations by a living author goes to Stephen King.

Laurence Olivier called his writings "the nearest thing in incarnation to the eye of God."

Invented many names that were popularized by his plays and entered common use. These names include: Miranda, Jessica, Ophelia, Audrey and Viola.

He willed his "second-best bed" to his wife, Anne Hathaway. Many scholars took that to be an insult, but this interpretation is incorrect. In 17th-century England, a home's best bed was reserved for guests; a husband and wife slept in the second-best one. His gesture was a sentimental reminder of the love he bore his wife.

The date of his death is the 23rd of April 1616, only because England had not yet revised the calendar in accordance with the rest of Europe, which meant that the British calendar was ten days behind. If the calendar had been revised at that time, the date of his death would be the 3rd of May 1616 (unlike Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, Shakespeare's contemporary, who actually did pass away on the 23rd of April 1616).

A number of his works have been adapted for other cultures. There exists a Zulu version of "Macbeth", and a Japanese Kabuki version of "Hamlet".

In 1964 was the first person other than royalty to be portrayed on a British stamp.

The first patron of his company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, was Henry Carey, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII.

It is speculated by some that he was inspired to write "Hamlet" after the untimely death of his own son, Hamnet.

In 1994 Charles Hamilton, a noted handwriting authority, published his edition of Shakespeare and John Fletcher's long-lost play "Cardenio", which he believed had been masquerading as "The Second Maiden's Tragedy", an unattributed play of the time, apparently the sequel to a Fletcher collaboration with Francis Beaumont. Because the names had been altered, Hamilton's identification of the play with "Cardenio" has been controversial, but has not been refuted. Hamilton believed it to be in the same hand as Shakespeare's will, which he determined to match known examples of Shakespeare's handwriting, rather than having been written by a scribe. Hamilton died in 1996.

In Manor Park, East London, there are streets named after he and his wife, Anne Hathaway: Shakespeare Crescent and Hathaway Crescent.

His father was a maker of gloves.

He stood as godfather to the future Poet Laureate of England, William D'Avenant (1606-68), and D'Avenant would later claim that Shakespeare was his father in more than just God.

The most successful American revival of one of his plays was "Othello", which started in 1943 and ran for 296 performances until 1946. It starred Paul Robeson as Othello, José Ferrer as Iago, and Uta Hagen as Desdemona.

Family records 1564-1616 show 44 surname spellings.

In 1964, the 400th anniversary of his birth, there were at least four notable productions of "Hamlet" alone--the Richard Burton Broadway production, the Christopher Plummer made-for-TV film, the celebrated Russian-language film version (seldom seen in the US) and Joseph Papp's Shakespeare Festival production, which was taped for TV.

His play "Romeo & Juliet" borrows many plot elements from the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Both are the children of feuding families. Pyramus, like Romeo, is led to believe that she has died, and stabs himself to be with her. Thisbe then follows suit."Romeo & Juliet" was later a partial inspiration for the play "Cyrano de Bergerac". Both begin with a duel and feature an iconic balcony scene. When Cyrano insults his own nose, he ends with "And finally, parodying Pyramus's cries, 'Behold the nose that destroyed the beauty of its master features. It reddens with shame, the traitor!'".

Was the subject of a comic routine by Richard Buckley (aka Lord Buckley), where he was referred to as "Willie the Shake".

"The Comedy of Errors" was the only one of his many plays in which he mentions "America" (Act III/Scene 2).

Described by Tom Conti in "The Times of London" on 2/26/2003 as "A great poet, a considerable philosopher, but, by modern standards, quite a poor playwright".

William Beeston, son of Shakespeare's friend actor Charles Beeston, described him as "a handsome, well-shap't man."

Pictured on a 5¢ US postage stamp issued to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his birth, 8/14/1964.

Inspired the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

His comedic play "Twelfth Night", performed at the Donmar Warehouse, was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Revival of 2002.

Several pop songs reference him and his work, including "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits, "Shakespeare's Sister" by The Smiths, 1962's "Just Like Romeo and Juliet" by The Reflections and "Shakespeare in Love" by Layla Kaylif. The British progressive rock band Twelfth Night named themselves after his famous play.

Two daughters and one son with Anne Hathaway: Susanna, Judith and Hamnet (twins).

Portrayed by Reginald Gardiner in The Story of Mankind (1957), Tim Curry on Will Shakespeare (1978) and Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love (1998). Voiced by Mel Blanc in the Bugs Bunny cartoon A Witch's Tangled Hare.

His play "The Tempest" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, IL, was awarded the 2016 Joseph Jefferson (Equity) Award for Large Play Production.

His play "The Tempest" at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, was awarded the 1979 Drama-Logue Award for Outstanding Production.

Mentioned in Underground (1941) and Starsky & Hutch (2004).

His play "Macbeth" at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, IL, was nominated for a 2018 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for large Play Production.

The cast of his play "The Taming of the Shrew" at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago, IL, was nominated for a 2018 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Play Ensemble.