German actor whose fame rested on his portrayals of Shakespearean characters.

After years of apprenticeship on many stages, Dessoir in 1839 joined the court theatre at Karlsruhe, where he stayed for 10 years. From 1849 to 1872 he was associated with the Berlin court theatre, traveling throughout Germany to give guest performances. In 1855 he played in London, where critics compared his Othello favourably to the portrayals by Edmund Kean (Kean, Edmund) and William Charles Macready (Macready, William Charles). His Othello had a quiet intensity that was in marked contrast to the melodramatic violence with which it had become customary to play the Moor.