Silent Wierdness: Victor Sjöström

Showing posts with label Victor Sjöström. Show all posts

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Countdown To Halloween Day 15: Körkarlen [The Phantom Carriage] (1921)

Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Born Today February 18: Edward Arnold

1890-1956

Born Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider in New York City to German immigrant parents; he went to school at the East Side Settlement House. His interest in acting came at an early age and he made his stage debut at the age of 12 in The Merchant Of Venice, playing the role of Lorenzo. He made his professional stage debut in 1907. After this, he found work as an extra with Essanay Studios after it's move from Chicago westward. Many of these roles do not show up in his list of credits. He first credited role, and on IMDb it looks like his first film role, came in 1916 with The Misleading Lady. By 1917 he was getting lead roles in silent films. His last credited role in a silent film came in 1920 with The Cost. The last silent film in which appeared was simply as an extra in the huge cast of Victor Sjöström's He Who Gets Slapped (1924), starring Lon Chaney Sr. Arnold then left the motion picture industry for the stage; he would not return until well into the talking era. He made his film return in 1932 in the short Murder in the Pullman and from then on had steady work, becoming one of Hollywood's most recognizable character actors. His specialties became characters that were either authoritarian figures or rogues. In the 1947 he became the star of his own radio show Mr. President, which ran through 1953. He also got into television work in the 1950's. In addition to his acting career, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1940 through 1942; and he was co-founder of I Am An American Foundation. He worked right up until the time of death at the age of 66; in all he would appear in more than 150 films. His last time in front a camera came as the host of the television program Strange Stories the year of his death. He passed away suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage on the 23rd of April 1956 in Encino, California. He is buried in the catholic San Fernando Mission Cemetery in the Mission Hills part of Los Angeles. He grave marker somewhat comically states, "He's not dead--He's just away."

IMDb

Wikipedia

Find a Grave entry

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Born Today September 20: Victor Sjöström

1879-1960

Born Victor David Sjöström in Silbodal Sweden, he is primarily known as a very prolific director of films, but, in fact, he was also a prolific actor as well, often directing himself in his own films. He is well known as "The Father Swedish Film" and is regarded as one of the very best film directors ever. He directed some very famous and influential silent films, especially in the 1920's that includes one of my favorite silent horror films of all time The Phantom Carriage (which he also wrote) in 1921. Though born in Sweden he was only one year old when his father Olof moved the family the New York; when 6 years later his mother died, at just the age of 7 he returned alone to Sweden to live with relatives in Stockholm. He started down the path toward making films, when at the age of 17 he started acting with a touring theater company. He left the stage to make his first film in 1912 and continued to direct films through the year 1937. In all he made 41 films in Sweden, many are probably and sadly lost. Though he started directing in Sweden, he made the move to Hollywood in the 1920's at the invitation Louis B. Mayer, where he went on to direct the likes fellow Swede Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney Sr. and John Gilbert, just to name a few. When in Hollywood he was credited as "Victor Seastrom." He made only two talkies in the US, with only one A Lady To Love (1930) actually made for US consumption. Though his next film Die Sehnsucht jeder Frau (1930) was produced by MGM, it was in the German language and debuted in Finland; on this one he insisted that his real name be credited as director. This marked his end in Hollywood, when he returned to Sweden to direct a further two films. His last film Under The Red Robe (1937) was made in England, where he was once again credited as Seastrom (it is currently on Amazon Prime). He then stopped directing films and returned to the theater in Stockholm. He did, however, continue acting in movie, with his last role coming in the year 1957 in no less than the Ingmar Bergman directed Wild Strawberries. In addition to being an incredibly talented actor and director, he was also very good writer of screenplays. He passed away in Stockholm on the 3 of January in 1960 at the age of 80 and it interred at Norra begravningsplatsen (Northern Cemetery), where a number of other famous Swedes are buried including actress Ingrid Bergman is also buried.