He went on tour as a child actor playing Richard III, Macbeth, and Shylock, Claude Melnotte, Young Norval and other heroes of the classic drama before 1857, being billed under various titles, such as "The Ohio Roscius" and "The Boy Prodigy." His name was Salma Lyon, but he finally took Louis Aldrich as his legal and professional designation. He joined the juvenile March Players of St. Louis, Missouri, from 1858 through 1863, being billed as "Master Louis"; went with them in 1860 to California; and thence to Australia and New Zealand, where they remained two years and a half. In 1863 the troupe returned to California and disbanded after playing in San Francisco for four weeks. He then joined Maguire's Opera House Company in San Francisco, California. He remained there from 1863 through 1866.
He became a member of the stock company at the Boston Theatre in March 1866, opening as Nathan to the Leah of Ellen Bateman. Frank Mayo had been cast for the part, and his name appeared on the posters, but at the last moment, Aldrich took his place. He remained at the Boston Theatre for eight seasons, playing in the many old plays revived at that house, and supporting Forrest, Booth, Cushman, and others in leading roles. In 1870 he appeared in Armadale. He then played in Leah the Forsaken.
From 1873, He played successively in several companies; he became the leading man of Mrs. John Drew's company, the Arch Street Players, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he stayed through the following year; as a stock star at Wood's Museum in New York; with John T. Ford's company in Baltimore; at Booth's Theatre in New York, and for the seasons of 1877-78 and 1878-79 with McKee Rankin as Parson in The Danites. On August 22, 1879, he brought out Bartley Campbell's My Partner at the Union Square Theatre in New York, playing Joe Saunders; and, in connection with Charles T. Parsloe, continued to present that melodrama for the season after season in almost every city and town in the United States through 1885. On September 11, 1888, he produced The Kaffir Diamond at the new Broadway Theatre in New York, and two years later starred in The Editor.
In the season of 1892-93, he played General Colgate in Augustus Thomas's war dramaSurrender, under the management of Charles Frohman, the cast including Rose Eytinge, Maude Banks, W. H. Crompton, Burr Mcintosh, and Harry Woodruff. He subsequently appeared in Her Atonement and other plays, with occasional returns to his popular success My Partner. In 1893 he appeared in "The Senator" at the Grand Opera House in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
