Colley Cibber was an influential English actor-manager, playwright, and Poet Laureate of Great Britain. Born in London, he began his career as an actor and quickly rose to prominence, eventually becoming a manager of the Drury Lane Theatre. His plays, often sentimental comedies like "Love's Last Shift," were highly popular in their time, though later critics, like Alexander Pope, famously satirized his work. Despite the criticism, Cibber's autobiography, "An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber," provides an invaluable firsthand account of the 18th-century London stage.