1875-1954
Born Thurlow Weed Bergen (most probably named for the prominent newspaper man turned politician of the 19th century Thurlow Weed, though I do not know at this time if he was a relation); Bergen's career on the silver screen is encapsulated wholly in the silent era. He was born in Saginaw, Michigan to a lawyer father, and his father intended his son to go into that profession--sending him east to Washington DC to study the law. It was there that Bergen decided instead to become an actor. Throughout his life, he was primarily an actor of the stage--with his years active spanning all the way through to 1940 at least. He started his own touring company that was by all accounts quite successful before eventually making his debut on Broadway. As with many actors of the age, he was eventually drawn into the motion picture industry. The bulk of his film appearances date from 1914; he debuted in moving pictures in the Páthe Frères film The Stain (the film also features the debut of Creighton Hale, who would become a staple of film and television and the first appearance of a young woman as a "Gang Moll" named Theda Bara--under her birth name of Theodosia Goodman). He next went to work for Wharton for the remainder of that year (first film with them was The Boundary Rider)--the company was the production of company of British born Leopold Wharton and his younger brother Theodore and would figure in some fashion throughout Bergen's film career. The last film that he appeared in was the drama Blind Love in 1920. He then returned exclusively to the stage. During his time in films, he worked for a number of production houses, the most well known being Fox; he also appeared in films directed by the likes of Oscar Apfel and Herbert Blanché. Additionally, appeared in a number of films with his second wife Elsie Esmond, who was herself a star primarily of the stage (she is considered minor royalty of the Broadway stage in fact). Bergen passed away at the age of 79 on the 1 of May in 1954, having lived well into the age of television. There is no information as to his place of death or his interment.
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