Born Today February 8: Robert W. Cummings

1865-1949

Robert W. Cummings, born on this day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was first and foremost a man of the stage. A highly respected and accomplished stage actor, he was a staple on Broadway for years.  His acting career started with stock & touring companies in the 1880's, before films were even invented.  He was known as a consummate supporting actor who was just as strong in comedic roles as he was in supporting characters in drama.  His debut in film came long after their invention; at the age of 49, he was pursuaded to appear in a film adaptation of a stage adaptation of an Upton Sinclair novel (I am pretty sure that he had appeared in stage production as well). The film was The Jungle, was released in May of 1914, and is now considered a lost film. Based on an Upton Sinclair novel of social injustice in Chicago, the film's lost status means that a number of roles are of an undetermined nature.  He would next show up in one of Edwin S. Porter's early efforts at Famous Players, an intrigue comedy based on a popular play of the times by Edward Peple:  The Spitfire (June 1914).  His first appearance in a film that today has historical significance was as Doyle in the Maurice Tourneur directed crime film Alias Jimmy Valentine, a Peerless Picture released in February of 1915. Though a man of the stage, Cummings had regular film work through 1919; over 25 of his nearly 35 film appearances came during this span of time.  He was basically a free agent, though he did have roles is two more lesser known Tourneur films (The Cub and The Ivory Snuff Box both in 1915). Also in 1915, he appeared in a couple of films with Clara Kimball Young--The Heart  of the Blue Ridge and Camille; and one of his first films in 1916, The Yellow Passport, also starred Young. Later in 1916, he added appearances in two films starring Francis X. Bushman:  The Wall Between and A Million a Minute, both directed by John W. Noble.  Later in the year, being a man of the stage, he was not going to turn down a chance to appear in some Shakespeare. He took the role of Friar Lawrence in Bushman's 1916 rendition of Romeo and Juliet with Beverly Bayne taking the role of Juliet. He then appeared with Lionel Barrymore in The Brand of Cowardice (October 1916), another Noble directed film; next appearing with Barrymore sister Ethel in The Awakening of Helena Ritchie, his last role of 1916.  He appeared in just four films in 1917, one of which was the Norma Talmadge melodrama The Law of Compensation (April 1917); and appeared in just three films the following year.  In ever diminishing returns, he acted in just two films in 1919 and just one in 1920 after which he quit film acting until the coming of sound. His last silent film role came in The Face at Your Window (October 1920). He appeared in just six more films in his film career, only two of which were in credited roles. His first appearance in a film with sound was actually a late partial silent: the mystery drama Convict's Code (August 1930) starring Cullen Landis and Eloise Taylor, in which he plays a governor.  In 1932, he appeared the independently produced It Happened in Paris, his first full sound film and his last credited role. His last four film appearances between 1935 and 1937 went uncredited, with his last film being The Outer Gate, a crime drama released in August of 1937.  Cummings died in Los Angeles twelve years later on the 22 of July at the age of 84.  There is currently no information on his interment. 

 

IMDb

Born Today October 9: Robert Warwick

 

 1878-1964

 

Actor Robert Warwick was born Robert Taylor Blen on this day probably in Sacramento, California (his parents were English and some sources cite that he was actually born in the UK just before they immigrated to the U.S.).  He went from movie star leading man to extremely successful character actor on television. His career lasted an impressive 63 years.  Initially drawn to music, he had the intent of going into that most dramatic side of music, opera performance--which he did indeed study for. He wound up in acting classes to improve his drama chops in operatic performance studies, but found acting a much more interesting avenue to pursue. He subsequently made his Broadway stage debut in 1903--he was not alone, one John Barrymore was also making his debut in the same play. Warwick got into the film industry 11 years later, making his motion picture debut in mining drama The Dollar Mark, shot on location in Ontario, Canada and produced by William A. Brady Photo Picture Plays (distribution by Selznick's World Film). It was a rarity for it's time, an actor making a film debut in a feature length film at such an early date (he actually did not appear in very many shorts in the silent era, another rarity).  Though he debuted in film and worked steadily through 1910's, he was still a fixture on the stage and, in fact, left films for most of the 1920's, until the coming of the wide spread use of sound in films. His sophmoric film appearance came in the Maurice Tourneur directed stock market melodrama Man of the Hour (October 1914). His most well known early film is Alias Jimmy Valentine, a formerly lost film filmed at the Peerless studio in Fort Lee, NJ, was again directed by Tourneur, and released in February of 1915. Continuing to work with William Brady production company, Warwick worked with a number of director of note in just 1915 alone. In addition to Tournuer, he was directed by Albert Capellani, Oscar Eagle and Frank Hall Crane. By 1916 his was a movie star in every sense of the term. He began working with director Emile Chautard, making Human Driftwood and Sudden Riches in short succession. In 1917 he teamed back up with Tourneur with the comical parody of the film making that was A Girl's Folly (another film that we are fortunate to be able to still screen).  He next showed up in the Ralph Ince directed mystery The Argyle Case.  Though Warwick technically has only one direct producing credit to his name, he started--in connection Harry Rapf Productions--his own production company bearing his name; The Argyle Case was the first production from the company and the only one not directed by Léonce Perret. Ultimately the company only turned out a handful of films, including the film that Warwick himself directly produced--The Accidental Honeymoon--in 1918. Warwick worked staedily through 1920, but despite being a huge star, juggling his stage work with film work was too large a work load and he felt he needed to make a choice between the two. He chose the stage. After 1920, he only appeared in two more films in that decade. His last film of 1920 was the Paramount comedy The Fourteenth Man. In 1924 he appeared in The Spitfire a Betty Blythe film directed by Christy Cabanne, it was his last silent film appearance. His only other film from the decade was the full sound Unmasked in 1929, an Edgar Lewis film produced and distributed by Weiss Brothers, it was a very late De Forest Phonofilm sound system film, and feature length to boot (it is also among the list of film lost to us).  Warwick next appeared in a film in 1931--The Royal Bed--and his career in front the camera after this point was a very long one. Warwick was 52 years of age when this film was released, his middle aged good looks and serious acting talent lent him to high profile supporting character roles.  As the decade progressed, his film appearances became greater in number; though Hollywood was itself greatly impacted by the Great Depression, so a number of his most memorable roles from the time period came in b-grade pictures. Warwick made his television debut pretty early in 1949 in the historic series "Your Show Time" in the July 1 episode Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff--though his small screen career did not really take off until 1955. And, of course, it's Spooktober, so here are few titles that he appeared in that fit with the season: Doctor X (1932) with Lionel Atwill & the scream queen herself Fay Wray, The Whispering Shadow (1933) with Bela Lugosi, Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933) with Warner Oland, I Married A Witch (1942) with Veronica Lake, and one appearance each on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the November 27 episode The Long Shot in 1955 and The Twilight Zone in the 1960 episode The Last Flight which aired on the 5th of February (he also appeared along side horror icon Boris Karloff in Devil's Island in 1939). Warwick ended his acting career on film on a television series. His last acting role came in The Bed I've Made episode of series "Dr. Kildare" which aired on the 20th of December in 1962.  He was 84 years old when the episode ran. Warwick died a year and a half later on the 6th of June in 1964 at the age of 85 and 1/2 years old. He is buried at Holy Cross in Culver City. In addition to being an actor, was a World War I veteran.

[Source: Find a Grave]

 

 IMDb

 

Wikipedia 

 

Find A Grave entry 

Born Today May 20: Fred Truesdell

1870-1929

Actor Fred Truesdell was born on this day in Coldwater, Michigan.  He would live his entire life within what we now call "The Silent Era," never living past the 1920's.  In fact, his entire film career was en capsuled in the 1910's.  Truesdell graduated from Yale; and in addition to being an silent screen actor (one of the earliest character actors), he was also a writer--specializing in poetry and the writing of plays.  The first film he is known to appear in is The Honor Of The Firm (1912), a 10 minute drama produced by the Eclair American Company.  Probably the first full length film that he appear in came in the 1915 The Deep Purple, but the film is profoundly lost and I can find zero information as to it's original running time.  His next film, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915), was definitely a full length film, with a running time of 50 minutes (the film was remade in 1928).  His last full length film appearance came in 1919 in Shadows (Goldwyn had a hand in the production).  The last film he appeared in was also in 1919 in the comedic short She's Everywhere and was produced for the Stage Woman's War Relief Fund for World War I.  After this, he seems to have retired back to Michigan.  Truesdell died in Quincy, Michigan on May 9 1929, just a couple of weeks shy of his 59th birthday.  There is no information as to where he is buried.

For More:

IMDb