Colley Cibber (1671-1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colorful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style. He wrote 25 plays for his own company at Drury Lane, half of which were adapted from various sources. He regarded himself as first and foremost an actor and had great popular success in comical fop parts, while as a tragic actor he was persistent but much ridiculed. He was frequently accused of tasteless theatrical productions, shady business methods. and a social and political opportunism that was thought to have gained him the laureateship over far better poets.