Born Today April 9 (Not So Silent Edition): Ward Bond

1903-1960

American character actor Ward Bond, birth name Wardell Edwin Bond--was born on this day in Benkelman, Nebraska.  His family later moved to Denver, Co. (this move has lead to some confusion as to when and where he was actually born, but the information above has been corroborated as correct).   Bond grew up in Benkelman; the move to Colorado came in the year 1919, where Ward attended and graduated high school.  He then attended the University of Southern California, where he played football; one Marion Michael Morrison (AKA John Wayne) was also on the team.  Bond would never appear in a fully silent film, and he is often credited with making his movie acting debut in 1929.  However, somewhere along the way, he had gotten into acting as an extra in a couple of Hollywood's biggest films of the late 1920's.  This was probably as a result of his friendship with Wayne, who had been acting in films since 1926.  The first of these was Noah's Ark, a Darryl F. Zanuck written, Michael Curtiz directed multiple time line epic that was an early talkie (sound by Western Electric Apparatus).  He next had a bit part in the 1929 Words And Music, which had both a mono and a silent edition.  His first credited role also came in 1929 with Salute, a film at least partially directed by John Ford.  In fact, the entire  U. of So. Cal. football team was hired for this film--as the film culminates with an Army/Navy football game.  It would be, though the Wayne/Bond/Ford trio who would go on to have serious careers in Hollywood and the three would remain life-long friends.  Having caught the acting bug with these early experiences, he would go on to be one the best character actors of Hollywood's golden age--making a career out of playing hard boiled types, despite the genre.  Though he had roles in earlier blockbusters, such as Gone With The Wind and Sergeant York, he is probably best remembered for his role in the Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life.  During the 1950's he also got into television work as well, with his last role being Major Seth Adams in Wagon Train--a major character in the show.  Bond died prematurely at the age of 57 from a massive heart attack on the 5th of November in 1960 in Dallas, Texas.  His old friend John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral, he was then cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea.

Seen here on the left in It's A Wonderful Life

For More:

IMDb

Wikipedia

Leave Virtual Flowers @ Find A Grave

Born Today September 5: Darryl F. Zanuck

Darryl F. Zanuck:  1902-1979

Yet another giant in the entertainment world (two in a role here), this time from deep inside the industry, pretty much the opposite of Artaud.  Zanuck became one of the faces of the studio era, but unlike others of his generation, he bounced from studio or production company to studio/production company during the duration of his career.  And, unlike many other studio bosses, he got his start from the bottom up and has as many credits for writing as he does for producer (even 3 ghost director credits--one in the silent era--and a novel as well), the list here today will be long, with some very famous silents on it! He was also somewhat unique in the use of at least three aliases for his writing for film.  Not that the moving around in the oil slick was was the golden age of Hollywood, meant that he wielded any less power--in it's hey-day he was considered one of the kingpins of system.   He was one of the first studio directors to build up a "stable" of stars, including Shirley Temple.  This is the beginning of a system that came to benefit the big wigs and harm the actors.  His life after success was certainly not without controversy.  Zanuck was born Wahoo, Nebraska,  There are a couple of different versions of his early life; one stating that by the age of 13 he was abandoned by both parents, and at 15 he lied about his age in 1917 and joined the army.  Another that he moved to LA with his mother when he was six, and actually got his first job film as an extra when he was 8 (no credit or information available on the production--seems a bit questionable), but that he was recalled back to Nebraska by his father and escaped by lying about his age at 16 in 1918 (seems to me this might be cleared up in military records--they are better kept than people think);  He served in both the World Wars.  I will concern myself here with just the silent era of his career.  He spent his first years in Hollywood working with the likes of Syd Chaplin and Carl Laemmle, but most of his early work was done with Mack Sennett, creator of The Keystone Cops, where Zanuck was a sort of jack of all trades for Sennett's Keystone Co.  His earliest great break through, and first "actor" discovery (and he does, in my humble opinion, deserve credit for this, though many disagree) was not even a person:  Rin Tin Tin.  His role in the late silent era was much more in the camp of ushering in the talking era and less about advances in artistic expresses found in many late silents.  His writing credits alone are so numerous that it is head spin, so this clearly is not high art--to the extent it could be called "dime store stuff."  Vitaphone was his and his 1920's bosses thing--they certainly won the day, and added "pulp" to the film industry that quickly frustrated such greats as James Whale.   In 1925 comes his first producer (uncredited) credit, the rest, as they say, is history.  Zanuck died of cancer on 22 December 1979 at the age of 77.  His descendants continued to (and still do) make big marks on Hollywood.  He is the father of Richard D. Zanuck and grandfather of Harrison Zanuck and Dean Zanuck.  For more about his very long and varied career, see his Wikipedia page.  He is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. 

Acting:

Find Your Man (1924) (Rin Tin Tin, his only known silent acting credit)

Writing Credits

Round Two (1922) (partially lost)

The Storm (1922)

Fighting Blood (1923)

The Knight in Gale (1923) (Series Short)

The Knight That Failed (1923) (Series Short)

Six Second Smith (1923) (Series Short)

Two Stones with One Bird (1923) (Series Short)

Some Punches and Judy (1923) (Series Short)

Gall of the Wild (1923) (Series Short)

The End of a Perfect Fray (1923) (Series Short)

When Gale and Hurricane Meet (1923) (Series Short)

Judy Punch (1923) (Series Short)

Julius Sees Her (1924) (Short)

When Knighthood Was in Tower (1924) (Short)

Money to Burns (1924) (Short)

King Leary (1924) (Short)

William Tells (1924) (Short)

Sherlock Home (1924) (Short)

For The Love of Mike (1924 (Short)

Find Your Man (1924)

The Millionaire Cowboy (1924)

A Lighthouse by the Sea (1924) (Rin Tin Tin feature)

On Thin Ice (1925)

A Broadway Butterfly (1925)

Eve's Lover (1925) (lost film)

The Limited Mail (1925)

Red Hot Tires (1925)

Seven Sinners (1925)

Hogan's Alley (1925)

Three Weeks in Paris (1925) (lost film)

The Caveman (1926)

The Little Irish Girl (1926)

A What A Nurse (1926)

The Social Highwayman (1926)

Footloose Windows (1926)

Across The Pacific (1926) (lost film)

The Better 'Ole (1926)

Wolf's Clothing (1927)

Tracked By The Police (1927) (Rin Tin Tin film)

The Missing Link (1927)

Irish Hearts (1927)

Simple Sis (1927)

The Black Diamond Express (1927)

The First Auto (1927) (Partial silent, Vitaphone sound)

The Desired Woman (1927) (directed by Michael Curtiz)

Slightly Used (1927)

Jaws Of Steel (1927)

Good Time Charley (1927) (lost film)

Ham And Eggs At The Front (1927) (this was a film that Zanuck had personal guilt about later in life and produced a number of well known films to counter stereotypes)

Tenderloin (1928) (partial silent, small speaking parts sound by Vitaphone, lost film, also has a production credit.)

Pay As You Enter (1928) (Vitaphone sound effects and music)

State Street Sadie (1928) (partial talkie, talking sequences by Vitaphone, lost film)

The Midnight Taxi (1928)

My Man (1928) (talking sequences by Vitaphone)

Harboiled Rose (1929) (partial silent, Vitaphone sequences)

Madonna Of Avenue A (1929) (early talkie, full sound by Vitaphone)

Say It With Songs (1929) (early talkie musical, Al Jolson film, full sound by Vitaphone)

Production Credits:

Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)

So This Is Paris (1926)

Old San Francisco (1927) (writer credit here, two version of film, one silent, one sound, with soundtrack and recorded sound effects.)

The First Auto (1927)

The Desired Woman (1927)

The Jazz Singer (1927) (he is uncredited here, several now documented production credits were first uncredited, but because this is such a giant in the silent world, I am making a note of it.)

Tenderloin 1928

The Terror (1928) (partial talkie, and partially lost, unfortunately, because it's a horror film--and features an early depiction of a serial killer--as such a horror fan, I'd love to hear that complete footage had been found!)

Noah's Ark (1928) (he also has an uncredited Director role in this film--his earliest, he also has a writing credit here )

On With The Show (1929) (early talkie, Vitaphone with a Western Electric Apparatus)

The Show Of Shows (1929) (early talkie with the same sound as above, John Barrymore film)

Production Manager:

Lights Of New York (1928) (extremely early talkie, often credited with being the first full sound film with full syncopation)