Gustav Anton von Seckendorff, author of ‘Vorlesungen über Deklamation und Mimik’ (1816), is among the many early nineteenth-century theorists of declamation the only one who had a noteworthy, if brief stage career. References to Seckendorff ’s ideas on declamation have become more frequent in recent scholarship, but little is known about his extraordinary life. Drawing upon period journalism and the memoires of contemporaries, this article presents a sketch for a fuller picture.