1921 & 1936: Billy and Rusty, the Famous Felines of the Algonquin Hotel » Barrymore
Some sources claim that actor John Barrymore, a frequent guest of the hotel, changed Rusty’s name to Hamlet. Barrymore was a big fan of cats, and he did play Hamlet on Broadway, but every newspaper article from that era calls the cat Rusty. No articles from the 1930s or 40s mention a cat at the Algonquin named Hamlet.
Actor John Barrymore was a cat fan
