Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson (d. 1600), English actor and playwright, was a comedian in the earl of Leicester's company, beginning with its establishment in 1574, and from 1583 to 1588 in the Queen's and afterwards in Lord Strange's company. He wrote several morality plays. In his Three Ladies of London (1584)(1584) he has the episode of the attempt of the Jew to recover his debt, afterwards adapted by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Another Robert Wilson (1579-1610), probably his son, was one of Henslowe's dramatic hack-writers.