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- Fannie Ward was a star of light comedies on Broadway and in vaudeville. Internationally famous, she was at the height of her career in the first decade of the 20th century. She debuted on Broadway at 19 in "Pippino" (1890). She went on to starring roles in "The Marriage of William Ashe", "Madam President" and "The Shop Girl". Although she was a good deal older than ideal for the role of the young spendthrift wife of a Wall Street tycoon, she made her screen debut in Cecil B. DeMille's production of The Cheat (1915). The film is a spectacular DeMille morality tale and features a shocking scene in which Ward's character is branded and nearly raped by a dapper but sinister Japanese ivory baron played by Sessue Hayakawa. She went on to star in several successful melodramas, the plots of most of which revolved around her near loss of virtue to a selection of nefarious characters. She was married to actor Jack Dean, who also appeared in at least 15 of her 26 films. Known as "The Youth Girl," she was continually cast in roles that were 20 to 30 years younger than her actual age. By the time she retired from the screen in 1920, she was just too old to carry it off anymore, and "The Youth Girl" sobriquet had become more of a joke than an honest tribute. After retiring from the screen, she opened a beauty palace in Paris called "The Fountain of Youth."
- Stephenson was a firm, dignified, worldly presence in Hollywood's classic history-based films of the 30s and 40s. The tall British character actor Henry Stephenson could be both imposing and benevolent in his patrician portrayals, usually expounding words of wisdom or offering gentlemanly aid. He was born Henry S. Garroway in Granada, British West Indies on April 16, 1871 and studied at Rugby in England. His reputation was built solidly on the stage both in America and in England, making his Broadway debut around the turn of the century with "A Message from Mars" in 1901. While he did make a few silent pictures (from 1917), film audiences began taking a notice only in later years. After transferring a successful Broadway role to film with Cynara (1932), Stephenson settled in Hollywood where he distinguished himself in a variety of pictures for RKO, MGM and Warner Bros., among others. He appeared quite frequently in royal support for Warners' top star of the time, Errol Flynn, including Captain Blood (1935) as Lord Willoughby, The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) as Sir Charles Macefield, The Prince and the Pauper (1937) as the Duke of Norfolk, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) as Lord Burghley. His last film was the sentimental yarn Challenge to Lassie (1949). Long married to character actress Ann Shoemaker, Stephenson died on April 24, 1956 in San Francisco, California at age 85, and was survived by his widow and daughter.
- Frederick Burton was born on 20 October 1871 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Fighting Blade (1923), Arizona (1918) and The Big Trail (1930). He was married to Lora Osgood and Jessie Perine Lawrie. He died on 23 October 1957 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Prince Randian was born in the Demarara district, British Guyana in 1871, the child of British Indian slaves. Born with tetra-amelia syndrome (the lacking of all four limbs), little is known about his early life or how he was discovered, but it seems his incredible adaptability did not go unnoticed. Reputedly, he was brought to the United States by P.T. Barnum in 1889 at the age of 18, performing as an "oddity" or "freak" at dime shows, museums and primarily at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York
For his act, Randian was billed as "the human caterpillar who crawls on his belly like a reptile." He wore a one-piece wool garment that fit tightly over his body, giving him the appearance of a caterpillar, snake or potato. He was efficient at moving from place to place by wriggling his hips and shoulders in a snake-like motion. He would demonstrate his astonishing ability to fend for himself regardless of his handicap. He would shave himself by securing a razor in a wooden block, paint with a brush or write with a pen by using his lips, and most famously, roll and light his own cigarette in his only film appearance, Freaks (1932) (1932). Randian was also said to have been a skilled carpenter, using his mouth and shoulders to manipulate his tools, and he kept all of the props and materials used in his act in a wooden box that he reportedly constructed, painted and installed a lock by himself using a saw, knife and hammer. "Someday," he used to say, "I'll build myself a house."
Randian could speak English, German and French in addition to Hindi, his native language. He married early in life to a Hindu woman known only as Princess Sarah, who remained devoted to him throughout his long 45-year career in the sideshow. The couple had four daughters, plus a son who later became his manager. They settled at 174 Water Street in Paterson, New Jersey.
Prince Randian died of a heart attack at 7:00 PM on December 19, 1934, shortly after his comeback performance at Sam Wagner's 14th Street Museum in New York. He was 63 years old. - Actor
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The youngest of three sons, he was born in Norfolk, Ontario, Canada and was educated at McGill University then In 1904 he moved to New York where he appeared in a number of plays on Broadway including The Blue Grass Handicap, The Superstition of Sue and successful The Chorus Lady after which he was invited by D.W. Griffith to join Biograph Studios where he made his film debut in The Greaser's Gauntlet (1908) followed by some 50 other films. Then, in 1910, he wrote his first film script, Sunshine Sue (1910), which was followed by many more. In 1912, he turned to directing with An Outcast Among Outcasts (1912) with a further 40 or so in the next 20 years. Acting wasn't neglected, with his appearing in Griffith's classic Intolerance (1916). Mack Sennett hired him to direct and star in a number of films at his Keystone Studios. He made the successful transition from silents to sound and frequently returned to his roots on Broadway. He married twice, first to actress Alice Louise Perine in October 1898 and had two children After their divorce and while working at Biograph Studios, he met and married actress/screenwriter Bess Meredyth (1890-1969) with whom he had a son.- Elspeth Dudgeon was born on 4 December 1871 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Old Dark House (1932), Becky Sharp (1935) and Mystery House (1938). She died on 11 December 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Matronly or grandmotherly, Alma Kruger appeared onscreen between 1935-47. She was 64 years old when she made her film debut in William Wyler's These Three (1936). She then proceeded to appear in over 40 films in the space of little more than a decade, appearing in, among others, Mother Carey's Chickens (1938), His Girl Friday (1940), Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944), and Saboteur (1942). She was likely best-known as head nurse "Molly Byrd" in the Dr. Kildare and Dr. Gillespie films of the 1930s/40s. She died at age 88 in 1960.
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German-born Gertrude Hoffman began her film career in Germany in 1918, but she didn't start her Hollywood career until she was past 60 years of age, making her American film debut in 1933. She worked steadily and made quite a few films over the next 20 years, though many of her parts were unbilled. She is probably best remembered as Mrs. Odets, the sassy next-door neighbor to Gale Storm in My Little Margie (1952), who was always up for a "caper" in one of Margie's many crazy schemes. She died in Hollywood of a heart attack in 1968.- Scott Seaton was born on 11 March 1871 in Sacramento, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The House Without a Key (1926), Rich Men's Sons (1927) and The Other Tomorrow (1930). He was married to Maude Clarice Redmon, Lillian Elizabeth L'Abbe Petterson and Ruby Henrietta Ramdohr. He died on 3 June 1968 in Hollywood, California, USA.
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- Producer
Clare Greet was born on 14 June 1871 in Leicestershire, England, UK. She was an actress and producer, known for Mrs. Dane's Defence (1933), Lord Camber's Ladies (1932) and Love at the Wheel (1921). She died on 14 February 1939 in London, England, UK.- DeWitt Jennings was born on 21 June 1871 in Cameron, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Exit Smiling (1926), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and The Squaw Man (1931). He was married to Margaret Ethel Conroy. He died on 1 March 1937 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Marcel Proust was a French intellectual, author and critic, best known for his seven-volume fiction 'In search of Lost Time'. He coined the term "involuntary memory", which became also known as "Proust effect" in modern psychology.
He was born Valentin Louis Georges Eugéne Marcel Proust, on July 10, 1871, in Paris, France. His father, Achille Proust, was a famous doctor. His mother, Jeanne Weil, was from a rich and cultured Jewish family. Proust's interests in art and literature were encouraged by his mother, who read and spoke English. He was fond of Carlyle, Emerson and John Ruskin, whose two works he also translated into French. From age 9 Proust suffered from severe allergy and asthma attacks, and eventually developed a chronic lung disease which caused his disability and affected his career and mobility. He was lucky to survive such a life threatening condition due to professional help from his doctor father. Proust's physical disability imposed serious restrictions on his lifestyle, and he expressed himself in writing. He was blessed with talent and imagination and also with a very large inheritance, that allowed him to write without any pressure. During the most years of his adult life Proust was confined to his cork-wood paneled bedroom, where he was attended mostly by his close friend, pianist and composer Reynaldo Hahn.
Proust's main work, 'A la recherche du temps perdu' was begun in 1909 and finished in 1922, just before the author's death. It also became known in English as 'In Search of Lost Time' (aka.. Remembrance of Things Past). The novel's life-like complexity and delicate fabric of language is influenced by his reading of Lev Tolstoy, especially by 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', and it bears some structural and contentual resemblance of Tolstoy's major novels. It is spanning over 3000 pages in seven volumes and teeming with more than 2000 names. Proust's novel is set in the fictional town of Combray, near Paris, and covers all aspects of life of the upper class; nobility, sexuality, women, men, art and culture. It was praised from Graham Greene, W. Somerset Maugham and Ernest Hemingway, as being the greatest fiction of their time.
Marcel Proust died at age 51, of complications related to pneumonia and his chronic health condition, on November 18, 1922, and was laid to rest in Cimetiére du Pére-Lachaise, Paris, France. The town of Illiers, which became the model for imaginary town of Combray in the novel, was renamed Illiers-Combray in commemoration of the Proust's masterpiece.- Maurice Moscovitch was born on 23 November 1871 in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for The Great Dictator (1940), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) and Love Affair (1939). He died on 18 June 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Joe Roberts was born on 2 February 1871 in Albany, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Our Hospitality (1923), The Primitive Lover (1922) and Three Ages (1923). He was married to Lillian Stuart Feld Roberts and Nina Mildred Straw Shannon. He died on 28 October 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Like many pioneers, the work of 'Winsor McCay' has been largely superseded by successors such as Walt Disney and Max Fleischer but he more than earns a place in film history for being the American cinema's first great cartoon animator. He started out as a newspaper cartoonist, achieving a national reputation for his strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'. Inspired by his son's flick-books, he spent four years and produced four thousand individual drawings in making his first animated cartoon 'Little Nemo', completing it in 1911. But his biggest cartoon success was 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1913), which was the centrepiece of a vaudeville act in which the live McCay would interact with his cartoon character. For this, he single-handedly produced ten thousand individual drawings, laboriously re-drawing the background every time. It is often wrongly cited as the first animated cartoon, but it was certainly the first successful one, and influenced dozens of imitators. His 1918 production 'The Sinking of the Lusitania' was even more ambitious: comprising 25,000 drawings, it was the first feature-length American cartoon, and the second one made anywhere. He retired from film-making in the 1920s, but would subsequently describe himself as "the creator of animated cartoons". This honour, strictly speaking, belongs to the Frenchman Emile Cohl - but McCay was certainly the first to bring them to a wide audience.- Actor
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Edmund Breese was born on 18 June 1871 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Duck Soup (1933), Platinum Blonde (1931) and The Hurricane Express (1932). He was married to Genevieve Landry and Harriet A. Beach. He died on 6 April 1936 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
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Seymour Hicks was an extremely successful actor and theatrical impresario who flourished from the late 19th century into the 1930s. He was best remembered for his portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".
Born on January 30, 1871 on the Isle of Jersey, he first trod the boards as a professional at the age of sixteen. He became a musical-comedy star in London in 1894 in "The Shop Girl", which he followed up with "The Circus Girl" (1896) and "A Runaway Girl" (1898), both of which co-starred his wife Ellaline Terriss, whom he had married in 1893.
After the turn of the century, Hicks began writing musical comedies that he and his wife appeared in. These efforts were met with great success. With his earnings from his successful career, he built the Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and the Seymour Hicks Theatre in 1906. (The Hicks was renamed the Globe Theatre in 1909 and eventually the Gielgud Theatre in 1994.) The first production at the Aldwych, Hicks' own musical comedy "The Beauty of Bath", was a hit. Jerome Kern was the composer and P.G. Wodehouse gained his first paying job as a writer on the musical. Wodeouse would be credited with the lyrics to two songs on another Hicks musical, "The Gay Gordons", in 1907.
(Hicks also was instrumental in "discovering" the young Alfred Hitchcock. When the director Hugh Croise walked off the set of the 1923 short Always Tell Your Wife (1923), based on a play by Hicks, starring Seymour Hicks, and produced by his Seymour Hicks Productions, the actor enlisted Hitchcock to finish directing it. It was only the second directing gig for Hitchcock, and though he was uncredited, it was his first film to be screened. (Hitch's first movie, Number 13 (1922), was never completed.))
By the time of the "Always Tell Your Wife" movie, Hicks had successfully navigated the change in theatrical tastes brought about by the Great War. He had begun writing and appearing in light, escapist comedies and satiric farces. Many of the farces he put on in the 1920s were adapted from French plays. Eventually, as his star waned, he worked in music halls.
It was in 1901 that Hicks first played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, the role for which he was most famous. He appeared in "A Christmas Carol" thousands of times on stage and made two movie versions of the Charles Dickens classic, a silent film (Old Scrooge (1913)) in 1913 and a talkie (Scrooge (1935)) in 1935.
By the mid-'30s, he was a well-established and highly respected actor and theatrical impresario. He became the 13th actor to become knighted in 1934, which came three years after the French Republic awarded him the Legion of Honor in recognition of his services in promoting French theater in England. (In 1915, he had won the French Croix de Guerre for entertaining Allied troops in France during in World War One and would win his second Croix de Guerre in World War II for the same service to the Allies.)
Seymour Hicks died on April 6, 1949 in Hampshire, England. He was 78 years old. He had continued appearing on stage and in movies until the year before his death.- George Morrell was born on 10 April 1871 in California, USA. He was an actor, known for Custer's Last Stand (1936), Gold Fever (1952) and The Utah Kid (1944). He was married to Rosalie. He died on 28 April 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Richard Carle was born on 7 July 1871 in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Ghost Walks (1934), Ninotchka (1939) and Seven Sinners (1940). He was married to Laura Casner and Ella Samantha Clifford. He died on 28 June 1941 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Marc McDermott was born Marcus Patrick McDermott in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, on July 24, 1871. His father Patrick James McDermott and mother Annie Massey McDermott were born in Ireland, and Marc later became an English citizen when he moved to London. His younger sister May, was born in Australia in 1881. He received his early education at a Jesuit school in Sydney. When Marc was 15, his father died suddenly. To support his mother and little sister, Marc joined a small local theater company. A year later, he was discovered by the famous Shakespearean actor George Rignold and made his first appearance on the stage in Sydney. He stayed with the company for several years, learning his craft. When Rignold's company departed for London, Marc quickly caught the eye of Charles Frohman, a New York agent and producer, whose clients included Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the first lady of the London stage. Tall with thick auburn hair and dark brown eyes, Marc cut an impressive figure. Mrs. Pat, as she was called, chose the 20-year-old to be her leading man. The company sailed to the US and landed in New York, where he played opposite her as Sir George Orreyed in "The Second Mrs. Tanqeray." The company returned to London, where he was hired by Frohman to play "Sherlock Holmes" in London for two years. For the next several years, Marc became a celebrated West End actor. In 1906, he accepted Frohman's offer to sail to New York and join the company of the great classical actor Richard Mansfield. He toured the US for several years, and in 1909 was approached by Charles Brabin, a fellow stage actor (and soon to be director) who was working at Thomas Edison's film studio in the Bronx. Marc was quickly hired to appear as a featured player, replacing Maurice Costello, who had moved to Vitagraph. His first film was Les Misérables (1909), followed by Lochinvar (1909) (Lochinvar was released first but he filmed "Les Miserables" prior to it). From 1909 through the summer of 1916, he starred in over 140 films for Edison, appearing frequently in popular early film magazines like Photoplay, Motion Picture, and Moving Picture World, voted as one of the most popular leading men during these years. In 1911, Marc costarred with Mary Fuller in Edison's first popular series "What Ever Happened to Mary?" Another favorite leading lady of Marc's was Miriam Nesbitt, who was eight years his senior. Their on-screen romance soon grew into a real-life love affair. On April 7, 1914, Marc made film history when he appeared in the first-ever "chapter" series; each chapter was a complete story in and of itself. The 10-chapter series was titled The Man Who Disappeared (1914), and was filmed on location in New York and New Jersey. Each printed chapter story was featured in "Popular Magazine" as each filmed chapter simultaneously appeared on the screen. As Marc told "Motion Picture" writer Gladys Roosevelt, he did all his own stunts, including driving an automobile into the icy East River, fighting a villain on top of a NYC skyscraper that was actually being built at the time, and being handcuffed to the railroad tracks. On April 20, 1916, Marc and Miriam married in Leonia, New Jersey. By this time, he had made more than 140 films. Later that year, Marc left the Edison Studio to join his best friends Charles Brabin and Ashley Miller at the Vitagraph Studio, where he starred in a number of films. In 1918, Marc moved to Fox Films in New York to star with Theda Bara in "Kathleen Mavourneen," directed by Charles Brabin, who would soon marry his star. Marc left Fox in 1920 to freelance, appearing with Norma Talmadge in "The New Moon." He then costarred with Estelle Taylor in "While New York Sleeps," with Brabin working as both writer and director. Another director friend from his Vitagraph days, John Robertson, directed him in "Footlights" (1921) with Elsie Ferguson. In 1922, his marriage began to unravel when Miriam discovered some love letters to actress Helen Gilmore and filed for a separation. The New York Times reported that he was arrested on August 11 and held in Ludlow Street Jail until he was released after paying $5,000 in bail. Marc left to visit his older brother's family, who had settled in Lowell, Massachusetts. After appearing in a vaudeville skit, he boarded a train in Boston and headed to Hollywood. Marc immediately went to work for Fox Films in "Hoodman Blind" directed by John Ford. At Warner Bros., he appeared in "Lucretia Lombard" with Irene Rich, Monte Blue, and Norma Shearer, which was produced by Harry Rapf. Marc next appeared with Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl, in "The Satin Girl." When M-G-M was formed in 1924, Marc was contracted to appear in their very first film, "He Who Gets Slapped." The cast included Lon Chaney, Norma Shearer, and John Gilbert. Mary Pickford, an old friend from his New York days, cast him in "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall" as Sir Malcolm Vernon. Another director friend, Marshall "Micky" Neilan, directed. Marc was in high demand at different studios for the next two years: "In Every Woman's Life" and "Siege" both with Virginia Valli; "This Woman" with Irene Rich, Ricardo Cortez, and Clara Bow in a minor role; and "The Sea Hawk" with Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, and Wallace Beery. At Universal Pictures in 1925, he appeared in "The Goose Woman" with Louise Dresser, Jack Pickford, and Constance Bennett. The film was directed by his friend Clarence Brown. Once again, Norma Talmadge cast him as the villain in "Graustark." In 1926, Marc was busy at M-G-M playing in both "The Temptress" with Greta Garbo and Antonio Moreno and "Flesh and the Devil" with Garbo and John Gilbert. One of his favorite costars was Greta Nissen, with whom he appeared in "The Love Thief" for Universal and "Lucky Lady" for Paramount. Norma Talmadge tapped his talent once again for "Kiki," a saucy little comedy with Ronald Coleman. During 1927, Marc starred in several M-G-M films, including "California" with Tim McCoy and Dorothy Sebastian, directed by W.S. "Woody" Van Dyke; and "Man, Woman and Sin" with Jeanne Eagels and John Gilbert, directed by Monta Bell. When the newly formed Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences held their first meeting at the Biltmore Hotel's Crystal Ballroom on May 11, 1927, Marc was among the 230 pioneer members in attendance. His name appears in the program listing of 102 actors. Later that year, his old friend John Robertson recruited him for "The Road to Romance" with Ramon Navarro and Marceline Day, and he also appeared in "Taxi Dancer" with Joan Crawford, as well as "Resurrection" with Rod La Rocque and Dolores Del Rio at United Artists. In 1928, during a vaudeville tour to Chicago, Marc became ill and returned to Hollywood to recuperate. His next film for M-G-M was "Under the Black Eagle" directed by Woody Van Dyke. For "Glorious Betsy" at Warner Bros., some Vitaphone talking sequences were included. The film starred Dolores Costello, the beautiful wife of John Barrymore and daughter of Maurice Costello, whom Marc had replaced at Vitagraph back in 1916. First National cast Marc in "The Yellow Lily" starring the lovely Bessie Dove. His last two films were "The Mysterious Island" shot in Technicolor with black and white sequences. Vitaphone sound sequences, a musical score, and sound effects were later added. Marc's old friend Charles Brabin directed him in his last film, "The Whip," which starred Dorothy Mackaill, Ralph Forbes, and Anna Q. Nilsson. During filming, Variety reported that Marc became very ill from ptomaine poisoning, lapsed into a three-month coma, and died from a gallbladder operation. However, Dr. E.F. Miller wrote on the death certificate that he had attended to Marc at home for eight months and then in the hospital from December 5, 1928 until his death at 5:20 a.m. on January 5, 1929. Further, he stated that no operation had preceded his death. The diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver was confirmed by clinical and laboratory tests performed on January 6. His body was cremated at the Hollywood Crematory, and his ashes were placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, where the brass plaque reads: Marcus McDermott, 1881-1929 (his correct birth date is 1871 according to his will and Australian birth records). His untimely death coincided with the death of silent films.
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Emmett Dalton was the youngest of the three Dalton brothers, part of a bandit gang notorious for robbing trains and banks in the Midwest during the late 1890s (interestingly, the brothers started their life of crime with a failed attempt at breaking into the safe on a Southern Pacific Railroad train in 1891 near San Luis Obispo, California). Emmett was shot several times and nearly died in the gang's infamous--and, as it turned out, futile--attempt to rob two banks simultaneously on October 5, 1892, in his hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas. Sentenced to life in prison, he served almost 15 years before being pardoned in 1907, in part because while in prison he found religion and rehabilitated himself to the satisfaction of prison authorities. Upon his release he married his childhood sweetheart and set out to rehabilitate the world--at least what he perceived as the world's proclivity to elevate outlaws to the status of heroes. Eventually his message came to Hollywood, where he acted in and consulted on several films about the "Wild West", at least two of them about his own folly as an outlaw. He also wrote the book "When the Daltons Rode," which was the basis of the western film When the Daltons Rode (1940). His exploits in life also include adventures in selling real estate and in advocating and campaigning for prison reform. He died in 1937 in Los Angeles, not too far from where Wyatt Earp (who had also found a place for himself in Hollywood) had also lived and died.- Theodore Dreiser was one of the great American writers, and a transitional figure between Victorian America and the "modern" age that was inaugurated after the cessation of hostilities after WWI and the publication of Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street" in 1920. A naturalist with a committed social conscience (Dreiser was a socialist in a time when socialists were an established third party and had many mayoral posts and seats in state legislatures before the post-WWI "Red Scare" wiped out socialism in the U.S.), Theodore Dreiser is a seminal figure in the evolution of American letters to a more mature literature.
Born on August 27, 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana, he was the twelfth of thirteen children Born to John Paul & Sarah Dreiser, ten of whom survived infancy. Theordore's Dreiser's father, John, was a German immigrant and a strict Baptist. His mother Sarah came from a Mennonite community who later converted to Roman Catholicism. His older brother Paul Dresser became a famous songwriter.
Theodore Dreiser attended Indiana University from 1889 to 1890, but flunked out and became a journalist in Chicago and St. Louis. He married the former Sara White in 1898, but the marriage failed and they separated in 1909. Dreiser never divorced his wife.
His first novel "Sister Carrie" was published in 1900. It is considered a classic and a seminal piece of American literature. The publisher did not promote the novel, likely due to its controversial subject matter (adultery, extramarital sex), and the book sold poorly. He did not score a best-seller for a quarter-of-century, until "An American Tragedy" in 1925. (The novel was made into George Stevens 1951 masterpiece A Place in the Sun (1951).
Theodore Dreiser died on December 28, 1945, not long after he had joined the Communist Party, a move that Ernest Hemingway said was that of an old man trying to save his soul. - Frank Hayes was born on 17 May 1871 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Vanity Fair (1923), A Hoosier Romance (1918) and After His Own Heart (1919). He was married to Lottie Harriet Ward Christensen Kemp (maiden name: Ward). He died on 28 December 1923 in Hollywood, California, USA.
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Segundo de Chomón became involved in film through his wife, who was an actress in Pathé films. In 1902 he became a concessionary for Pathé in Barcelona, distributing its product in Spanish-speaking countries and managing a factory for the coloring of Pathé films. He began shooting footage of Spanish locations for the company, then in 1905 moved to Paris where he became a trick film specialist. The body of work he created over five years was outstanding. Films such as The Red Spectre (1907), Kiri-Kis (1907), The Invisible Thief (1909) and A Panicky Picnic (1909) are among the most imaginative and technically accomplished of their age.
De Chomón created fantastical narratives embellished with ingenious effects, gorgeous color, innovative hand-drawn and puppet animation, tricks of the eye that surprise and delight, and startling turns of surreal imagination. It is curious why he is not generally known as one of the early cinema masters, except among the cognoscenti in the field. Perhaps it is because there is a smaller body of work than that created by Georges Méliès (his works can perhaps be described as a cross between that of Méliès and another who combined trickery with animation, Émile Cohl); perhaps it's because he was a Spaniard working in France for the key part of his film career that has meant that neither side has championed him as much as they might have done. De Chomón carried on as a filmmaker, specializing in trick effects, working for Pathé, Itala and others, and contributing effects work to two of the most notable films of the silent era, Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria (1914) and Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927).- Stephen Crane was the 14th child of parents who were both writers. Descended from a line of soldiers and clergymen (his father, Rev. Jonathan T. Crane, was a Methodist minister), Crane inherited from his forebearers the obsessive subject of war, stoical compassion and, particularly in his poetry, a Biblical style. His short, phenomenal literary career, which began in 1891 when he quit Syracuse University as a freshman, yielded the novels "The Red Badge of Courage" (1895), "The Open Boat" (1898) and "The Blue Hotel" (1899), as well as two volumes of poetry. His novel "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets", reputed to have been written in two days in 1891, is often credited with starting the naturalistic tradition in American fiction. He worked as a reporter in New York and later as a foreign correspondent following the wars. During his brief residence in England he befriended Henry James, Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells and F.M. Ford, who all recognized Crane's ruthless literary talent. His emergence as a fiction writer and poet was cut short when he died of tuberculosis at the tragically premature age of 28.
- Eduard von Winterstein was born on 1 August 1871 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was an actor, known for The Blue Angel (1930), Die Sonnenbrucks (1951) and Emilia Galotti (1958). He was married to Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein and Minna Mengers. He died on 22 July 1961 in Berlin, Germany.
- John Rand was born on 19 November 1871 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Circus (1928), The Fireman (1916) and Name the Woman (1934). He died on 25 January 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Joseph W. Girard was born on 2 April 1871 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Captain Midnight (1942), Social Error (1935) and Beloved Jim (1917). He died on 21 August 1949 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
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Oscar Asche was born on 26 January 1871 in Geelong, Australia. He was an actor and writer, known for Scrooge (1935), Chu Chin Chow (1934) and Don Quixote (1933). He was married to Lily Brayton. He died on 23 March 1936 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, UK.- Kathrin Clare Ward was born on 31 March 1871 in Bradford, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for The Isle of Lost Ships (1929), Air Eagles (1931) and Man Against Woman (1932). She was married to Charlie Ward. She died on 14 October 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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John T. Prince was born on 11 September 1871 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Dr. Jack (1922), The Radio Detective (1926) and The Battling Orioles (1924). He was married to Kathleen Chambers. He died on 23 December 1937 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
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Blanche Ring was born on April 24, 1877. She never dabbled with film acting until 1915 when she filmed THE YANKEE GIRL. She was 38 at the time. She only made two other films, IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME in 1926 and HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME in 1945. Blanche died in Santa Monica, California on January 13, 1961. She was 83 years old.- Actor
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Frank Terry toured Europe and Asia on the legitimate stage professionally known as "Nat Clifford". He came back to America and became a comedy gag man for silent film comedies. He became somewhat notorious for an unfortunate incident that occured on August 24th, 1919 in a movie studio in Downtown Los Angeles. He inadvertingly handed over a thought-to-be dummy bomb prop to "Harold Lloyd". It soon exploded in his hands and Harold Lloyd then lost two fingers and a thumb from his right hand. Frank Terry later became "Laurel and Hardy's" comedy writer for their films in the 1920's to the middle 1930's. He also acted in some of their films in bit roles as a butler and radio voice over("Me And My Pal"), and a safecraker ("Midnight Patrol"), etc... Around 1935, Frank Terry left films and became a missionary chaplain to a leper colony in Hawaii. He later opened a mission hall in Honolulu. Sometime in the early 1940's, Frank Terry officially retired and returned to California to live out his remaining years with his wife and two daughters (Lillian and Madeline). His wife's name was- Lillian Mary Edwards. She passed away in 1942. (mini-biography credit is given to- "Glenn Mitchell" from his 1995 book- "The Laurel And Hardy Encyclopedia".) Glenn Mitchell lives in Stratham, England, UK.- Marguerite Moreno was born on 15 September 1871 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Pique Dame (1937), Les Misérables (1934) and Jim la houlette (1935). She was married to Jean Daragon and Marcel Schwob. She died on 14 July 1948 in Touzac, Lot, France.
- Evelyn Selbie was born on 6 July 1871 in Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for The Silver Treasure (1926), Dangerous Paradise (1930) and The Prisoner's Story (1912). She died on 7 December 1950 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Journalist, author, biographer and historian Samuel Hopkins Adams was born along the banks of Lake Erie at Dunkirk, NY, on 26 January 1871. His parents were Myron, a ministe3r, and Hester Rose Hopkins Adams, the daughter of a theologian. Adams attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, and upon graduation began working as a newspaper reporter and later editor.
In the early years of the 20th century Adams became one of the pioneers in "muckraking journalism" with his exposes on the patent-medicine industry published in Collier's Magazine. He would later write a number of informational articles on health and medicine and become an associate member of the American Medical Association, even though he lacked a background in medicine. Adams was probably the first journalist to write articles on health that could be understood by the average reader
Adams' first novel, "The Clarion", was published in 1914 and told the story of an idealistic editor trying to run an honest newspaper amid unscrupulous advertisers and corrupt politicians. A reoccurring theme throughout Adams' novels was the triumph of idealism over corruption. He wrote biographies on writer Alexander Woollcott, American politician Daniel Webster and President Warren G. Harding. Earlier supporters of Harding tried to suppress Adams' novel "Revelry" (1926) for its portrayal of the various scandals that had plagued the Harding administration. Adams wrote a number of "detective Average Jones" mystery stories that would later be adapted to radio. Under the pseudonym Warner Fabian he wrote several novels about the "Lost Generation" in the years following World War I, of which "Flaming Youth" (1923) was probably his best known.
An expert on the history of New York state, Adams wrote a series of articles for "The New Yorker" on the Erie Canal that were gathered together in 1955 and published under the title "Godfather Stories". He also authored "Canal Town" (1944) that told the story of the canal's construction, "Banner by the Wayside" about a 19th-century troupe of traveling New York actors and "Sunrise to Sunset", which chronicled the rise of the union movement in New York's garment district.
Adams married Elizabeth R. Noyes (1877-1957) of Charleston, WV, in 1898. The couple had two daughters before their divorce in 1915. Later that year he married former stage actress Jane Peyton Van Norman (1880-1946).
Adams died on 15 November 1958, while at his winter residence in Beaufort, SC. He was survived by his daughters, Hester and Katherine. - Orville Wright was born on 19 August 1871 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He died on 30 January 1948 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Music Department
- Writer
Atul Prasad Sen was born on 20 October 1871 in Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India [now in Dhaka, Bangladesh]. Atul Prasad was a writer, known for Jadu Bansha (1974), Dekha (2001) and Jodi Love Dile Na Prane (2014). Atul Prasad died on 26 August 1934 in Lucknow, United Provinces, British India.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Producer
Gabriel Veyre was born on 1 February 1871 in France. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Baño de caballos (1896), Pelea de gallos (1896) and Ejercicios a la bayoneta por los alumnos del colegio militar de Chapultepec (1896). He died on 13 January 1936 in Casablanca, Morocco.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Hilda Borgström was born on 13 October 1871 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Phantom Carriage (1921), Ingeborg Holm (1913) and Striden går vidare (1941). She died on 2 January 1953 in Stockholm, Sweden.- Director
- Actor
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Charles Giblyn was born on 6 September 1871 in Watertown, New York, USA. He was a director and actor, known for The Lesson (1917), Scandal (1917) and Just for Tonight (1918). He died on 14 March 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Actor
Heinrich Mann, German novelist and the elder brother of Nobel-Prize winner Thomas Mann, is most famous in the English-speaking world for his novel "Professor Unrat" that was turned into the successful 1930 movie "Der Blaue Engel" ("The Blue Angel"). Mann once enjoyed a considerable reputation in German literary circles, but many of his novels and practically all of his essays are unknown to most anglophones as they remain untranslated. He remains of interest as his work details a people enculturated under an authoritarian regime in their struggle to achieve and sustain democracy.
Mann was born in Lübeck on March 27, 1871, the first child of Senator Thomas Johann Heinrich Mann and his wife Julia da Silva-Bruhns. Descended from grain merchants and born into the patrician class, Mann started his writing career as an essayist with a determinedly conservative point of view. Eventually, he evolved into a well-known proponent of democracy and socialism.
Mann's education consisted of attendance at a private preparatory school until 1889. Leaving school, he went to work as an apprentice for a Dresden bookseller, but failed at the job. He moved to Berlin in 1891, where he became a published writer. In 1892, he contracted tuberculosis and was cared for in a Swiss sanatorium. Mann, who published his first novel in 1893, became financially independent upon the death of his father.
The next year, Mann moved from Berlin to Munich along with his mother and the rest of the family, and took the post of editor of "Das zwanzigste Jahrhundert." Mann preferred living in France and Italy to Germany, and he spent most of his time in those two countries until the outbreak of World War I.
His early novels were social satires of the German bourgeoisie that showed the society's resistance to democratic ideals. In 1904, he published the novel he is most famous for, "Professor Unrat" ("Professor Garbage"), which details the moral, social and physical decay of a pompous prep school teacher romantically obsessed with a nightclub singer. Josef von Sternberg's 1930 German- and English-language movies based on the novel, "Der Blaue Engel" and "The Blue Angel," made a star out of Marlene Dietrich, who played the bewitching chanteuse Lola Lola.
Mann's 1912 novel "Der Untertan" ("The Patrioteer") features an amoral, manipulative and opportunistic businessman, Diederich Hessling, who uses patriotism to get ahead and winds up as a simulacrum of the Kaiser. An indictment of the militarism and nationalism of prewar Prussia, it was banned by the German government during World War I. Mann used a gallery of grotesques to elucidate the moral weakness and the lack of personal responsibility of the bourgeoisie under the German Empire of Kaiser Wilhelm II. As a youth who bullies the sole Jew in his school, Hessling believed "[h]e was acting on behalf of the whole Christian community of Netzig. How splendid it was to share responsibility, and to be a part of a collective consciousness."
Mann's essay on the great French naturalist novelist "Zola" (1915), satirized Germany and Prussian militarism and blamed World War I on capitalist exploitation and the plutocracy. "Zola" disrupted Mann's relationship with his brother Thomas, who at that time was more conservative than Heinrich. Thomas Mann supported Germany's participation in World War I, and he wrote his own essay in 1918 that directly attacked Heinrich. Thomas Mann's contemporaneous credo was that an artist should be independent and not dabble in politics. The estrangement between the brothers proved only temporary, and eventually, the four years-younger Thomas came to support many of Heinrich's opinions.
As he progressed as a novelist, Mann became firmly committed to the idea of the didactic power of art. He dedicated himself during and after the post war revolutionary period of 1918-19 to teaching Germany about democratic values through his writing. He became popular during the Weimar Republic when the ban on "Der Untertan" was lifted in 1918, and it was republished to great acclaim. The novel, plus "Die Armen" ("The Poor") in 1917, and "Der Kopf" ("The Chief") in 1925, make up Mann's "Das Kaiserreich" ("The Empire") trilogy.
The Prussian Government appointed Mann to the Academy of Arts in Berlin, and in 1931, he was elected the Poetry Section president. In 1933, Mann published "Der Hass" ("Hate"), a novel with the premise that the hate perpetrated by fascism would trigger the Gotterdammerung of civilization. After the Nazis solidified power, he was removed from his post and declared persona non grata due to his novels criticizing German authoritarianism, militarism, and nationalism.
Mann went into exile, first in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and then in Nice, France. While living on the Côte d'Azur, Mann wrote a novel based on French King Henry IV, a promoter of tolerance. It was this king, known as "Henry the Good," who ended the religious civil war racking 16th century France by issuing the Edict of Nantes, which allowed Protestants to openly practice their religion.
After the Nazi conquest of France, Mann fled to Spain, crossing the Pyrenees Mountains on foot at the age of 69. From Spain, he immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Santa Monica, California with his second wife, Nelly Kroeger. His friends had arranged a one-year contract for him at Warner Bros., but he was hobbled by a poor command of English. After the contract expired, Mann had financial difficulties for the rest of his life. He had lost his German and French audiences and the royalties his book sales in Europe had generated, and he became financially dependent on friends and family, including Brother Thomas.
In California, Mann hobnobbed with other German exiles, including Bertolt Brecht. He was virtually unknown in America, his reputation eclipsed by that of his brother. Compounding his difficulties in America, his second wife, who was afflicted with mental illness, committed suicide in 1944.
Mann published his autobiography in 1945, and shortly before he died, had accepted an offer from East Germany to become head of their newly reconstituted Academy of Arts in East Berlin. Mann was not able to actually take over the post, as he died in Santa Monica on March 12, 1950. He was cremated and his ashes interred at the Academy in East Berlin.- Isabel O'Madigan was born on 16 October 1871 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Bab's Diary (1917), The Egg and I (1947) and Bab's Matinee Idol (1917). She died on 23 January 1951 in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Sam Appel was born on 8 August 1871 in Magdalena, Jalisco, Mexico. He was an actor, known for Revenge (1928), The Lion's Claws (1918) and Give Us This Night (1936). He died on 18 June 1947 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Bob Pender was born on 14 December 1871 in Bury, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Hands Up!; or, Captured by Highwaymen (1904), The Silent Service (1957) and The Travelling Stiltwalkers (1910). He died on 7 November 1939 in Rochford, Essex, England, UK.
- Margaret "Peggy" Webling was an English playwright and novelist from Westminster, London. She is primarily remembered for her 1927 play "Frankenstein", a loose adaptation of the 1818 novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley. Her play was the main source used for the horror film "Frankenstein" (1931) by James Whale.
In 1871, Webling was born in Westminster, London. Her father was a silversmith and jeweler. During her early life, Webling was an amateur actress. She became a minor celebrity by performing in London with her three sisters. She became acquainted with the leading actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928), the novelist Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), and the polymath John Ruskin (1819-1900).
During the 1890s, Webling lived primarily in Canada and the United States. In 1896, she published her debut work, a poetry collection In 1905, she published her debut novel "Blue Jay". She continued regularly writing novels over the following years, such as "The Spirit of Mirth" (1910), "Edgar Chirrup" (1915), and "Boundary House" (1916). In 1919, she wrote the Christian-themed illustrated children's book "Saints and Their Stories".
In 1924, Webling published her memoir, "Peggy: The Story of One Score Years and Ten". In 1927, she was approached with a business offer by the actor-producer Hamilton Deane (1880 -1958). He had used a stage adaptation of "Dracula" to rise to fame. He wanted to introduce a stage adaptation of "Frankenstein" as well, and wanted Webling to write it for him.
Webling's play debuted in Preston, Lancashire in December 1927. She continued revising it over the next few years. The play had its London debut in February 1930. There were a total of 72 performances in London, though contemporary critics ridiculed the play's "flimsy" plot. In Webling's version of the story, the term "Frankenstein" applied to both the scientist and the monster. She was the first writer to name the creature with the family name of his creator.
In April 1931, the film studio Universal Pictures purchased the film rights to an unproduced American adaptation of Webling's play. As part of the deal, Webling received 20,000 dollars. She was also promised 1% of the gross earnings on all showings of any films based on her dramatic work. Her play served as the basis of the horror film "Frankenstein" (1931), which was a box office hit.
During the late 1930s, Webling published her last known works: "Aspidistra's Career" (1936), "Opal Screens" (1937), and "Young Lætitia" (1939). She spend the 1940s in retirement. She died in June 1949, at the age of 78. Her works fell in obscurity following her death, but her version of Frankenstein influenced most screen adaptations of the Frankenstein story during the 20th century. - James T. Mack was born on 16 May 1871 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Casey of the Coast Guard (1926), Anna Christie (1930) and Sin Cargo (1926). He died on 12 August 1948 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Charlie Chaplin - Film Industry Pioneer and Deaf Influenced? Deaf Friend and Prominent Artist Granville Redmond played a vital role in influencing Chaplin's performances
Mention the name Charlie Chaplin and all but the youngest of us will instantly conjure up this wonderful comic film character who, through silent movies, brought meaning and entertainment to the masses. Put the name Granville Redmond into the mix and few people will have knowledge about the enormously influential role this artist/actor had on Chaplin's performances.
With his mother committed to a mental asylum when he was 14, Chaplin began looking for opportunities at music halls, finding work as a stage actor and comedian. Aged just 19, he began work for the the prestigious Fred Karno company, a contract that took him to America and to the fame and stardom that followed.
Admired by Chaplin for his natural expressiveness, he and Granville became life-long friends and whilst he continued painting, Granville began teaching Chaplin sign language, finger-spelling, pantomime routines and the communication techniques that Chaplin went on to use so successfully in his films. Such was his respect for Granville that Chaplin went on to use him in several of his films as well as sponsoring him in other silent acting roles. - Legendary Swedish dramatic stage actress and tragedienne: The brilliant Gerda Lundequist is considered as one of Scandinavian theatre's most important modern female pioneers of the early 1900s stage.
With new modern portrayals of the Ibsen, Strindberg and the classic Shakespeare leading women, her importance to modern female stage characterization in Swedish and Scandinavian theatre is not to be underestimated.
Born in Stockholm 1871, she was brought up by foster mother Amalia Charlotta Ekecrantz, a manufacturer's widow, and later tutored by the great Swedish drama teacher Signe Hebbe at the Royal Academy of Music's old Theatre School in Stockholm 1886-89. Lundequist made her professional debute at Svenska teatern in Stockholm 1889, and her breakthrough came already the following year with her astounding portrayal of Kristina in play "Mäster Olof" by August Strindberg at the old Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Then followed the magnificent and historically important portrayals of the Shakespeare women Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet" and Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth", title role in "Antigone" by Sofokles, Ingrid in "Peer Gynt" by Henrik Ibsen, Ingeborg in Ibsen's "The Pretenders", title role in Hjalmar Söderberg's "Gertrud", title role in "Monna Vanna" by Maurice Maeterlinck, title role in "Maria Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller, Goneril in Shakespeare's "King Lear", Irene in "When We Dead Awaken" by Ibsen... and from there on.
Her thespian nickname as "Sweden's Sarah Bernhardt" is indeed flattering, in a way slightly misread and unjust for her as an actress. To change from the actress she most likely was as Antigone on stage 1908, or her Lady Macbeth in 1909, via her powerful and yet subtle performance as Margaretha Samzelius, the matron at Ekeby, in classic silent film The Saga of Gösta Berling (1924) - is nothing but a presentation of a true artists development. In Of Love and Lust (1955) - at age 84! - we get to see a brilliant glimpse of a true character actress at her very element: balanced, natural and collected in all her movements and thoughts. In full control of her melodic voice, character and limbs, she delivers as the old Royal Highness a refined example of timeless female bitchiness to a fellow sister! What we get to see is not at all an overacting or old melodramatic gesticulating theatre diva (as you perhaps would expect from a stage actress of her generation and with such a record), but a complete and absolutely magnificent character actress performance. Also such roles as her lovely cynical Änkedomprostinna, Mrs Hyltenius, in "The Baron's Will" by Hjalmar Bergman (a role she played 1945, 1948 and 1949 in different stagings due to her success in it) and her simple and very moving portrayal of the lonely Mrs Dowey in J.M. Barrie's beautiful little play "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals" (in 1940), shows that she indeed had an unusual wide ability for someone of her theatre generation when it came to shift from big classic tragedy to small drama stage plays, and to work with simple means when necessary.
According to colleagues and theatre people around, she was during her life described as reserved, hard to get in and as a person who never liked to talk about herself with others; she hated interviews on her roles by inquisitive journalists (and soon refused all of them!). But people who knew her closely private stated that she had a wonderful sense of humor (and because of that said they found it very regretful that she never played comedy on stage) and a very genuine warmth and kindness. So most likely she guarded her integrity well, and did hide herself in the primadonna role that somewhat became her trade mark in public, both on- and off-stage (on which subject there are many amusing stories!).
But diva or no diva; there is a reason why Gerda Lundequist is still spoken of in the Swedish theatre world of today - almost 50 years after her death and nearly 100 years after her first legendary female characterizations. Many of her character portrayals of the most classic female parts became so popular with the audience and critics at the time that she was called to reprise them at other theatres later on. - Actor
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David Miles was born on 26 October 1871 in Milford, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Everyman (1913), Twin Brothers (1909) and Local Color (1913). He was married to Anita Hendrie. He died on 28 October 1915 in New York City, New York, USA.