Men in silence

1. Douglas Fairbanks

Douglas Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado, to Ella Adelaide (nee Marsh) and Hezekiah Charles Ullman, an attorney and native of Pennsylvania, who was a captain for the Union forces during the Civil War. Fairbanks' paternal grandparents were German Jewish immigrants, ...

2. Lon Chaney

Actor | He Who Gets Slapped

Although his parents were deaf, Leonidas Chaney became an actor and also owner of a theatre company (together with his brother John). He made his debut at the movies in 1912, and his filmography is vast. Lon Chaney was especially famous for his horror parts in movies like e.g. Quasimodo in The ...

3. William S. Hart

Actor | The Money Corral

A storybook hero, the original screen cowboy, ever forthright and honest, even when (as was often the case) he played a villain, William S. Hart lived for a while in the Dakota Territory, then worked as a postal clerk in New York City. In 1888 he began to study acting. In 1899 he created the role ...

4. Rudolph Valentino

Actor | The Eagle

Hollywood's original Latin Lover, a term that was invented for Rudolph Valentino by Hollywood moguls. Alla Nazimova's friend Natacha Rambova (nee Winifred Hudnut) became romantically involved with Rudy and they lived together in her bungalow from 1921 (during the filming of Camille) until they ...

5. Ramon Novarro

Actor | Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ

Ramon Novarro was born José Ramón Gil Samaniego on February 6, 1899 in Durango, Mexico, to Leonor (Gavilan) and Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego Siqueiros, a prosperous dentist. Ramon and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1913, as refugees from the Mexican Revolution. After stints as a ballet dancer, ...

6. John Barrymore

Actor | Twentieth Century

John Barrymore was born John Sidney Blyth on February 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical ...

7. Emil Jannings

Actor | The Last Command

His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early 1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company. Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last ...

8. Wallace Reid

Actor | Carmen

The son of writer-theater producer-director-actor Hal Reid, Wallace was on stage by the age of four in the act with his parents. He spent most of his early years, not on the stage, but in private schools where he excelled in music and athletics. In 1910, his father went to the Chicago studio of "...

9. Maurice Chevalier

Actor | Gigi

Maurice Chevalier's first working job was as an acrobat, until a serious accident ended that career. He turned his talents to singing and acting, and made several short films in France. During World War I he enlisted in the French army. He was wounded in battle, captured and placed in a POW camp by...

10. John Gilbert

Actor | The Big Parade

John Gilbert was born into a show-business family - his father was a comic with the Pringle Stock Company. By 1915 John was an extra with Thomas H. Ince's company and a lead player by 1917. In those days he was assistant director, actor or screenwriter. He also tried his hand at directing. By 1919 ...

11. Tom Mix

Actor | Dick Turpin

The son of a lumberman, Tom Mix joined the army as a young man and was an artillery sergeant during the Philippine campaign from 1898 to 1901, though he never saw action. In fact, Mix deserted from the army and carefully kept the facts about his military service a closely guarded secret. About 1903...

12. Conrad Veidt

Actor | Casablanca

Conrad Veidt attended the Sophiengymnasium (secondary school) in the Schoeneberg district of Berlin, and graduated without a diploma in 1912, last in his class of 13. Conrad liked animals, theater, cinema, fast cars, pastries, thunderstorms, gardening, swimming and golfing. He disliked heights, ...

13. Ronald Colman

Actor | A Double Life

British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's ...

14. Adolphe Menjou

Actor | Paths of Glory

The words "suave" and "debonair" became synonymous with the name Adolphe Menjou in Hollywood, both on- and off-camera. The epitome of knavish, continental charm and sartorial opulence, Menjou, complete with trademark waxy black mustache, evolved into one of Hollywood's most distinguished of artists...

15. Charles Farrell

Actor | 7th Heaven

Popular Hollywood leading man of late silents and early talkies. He is best remembered for his teaming with Janet Gaynor in 12 screen romances between 1927 and 1934. He retired from films in the early 1940s, but TV audiences of the 1950s would see him as Gale Storm's widower dad in the popular ...

16. Richard Barthelmess

Actor | Only Angels Have Wings

Richard Barthelmess was born into a theatrical family in which his mother was an actress. While attending Trinity College in Connecticut, he began appearing in stage productions. While on vacation in 1916, a friend of his mother, actress Alla Nazimova, offered him a part in War Brides (1916), and ...

17. Will Rogers

Actor | Steamboat Round the Bend

World-famous, widely popular American humorist of the vaudeville stage and of silent and sound films, Will Rogers graduated from military school, but his first real job was in the livestock business in Argentina, of all places. He transported pack animals across the South Atlantic from Buenos Aires...

18. Warner Baxter

Actor | Penthouse

Warner Baxter claimed to have an early pre-disposition toward show business: "I discovered a boy a block away who would eat worms and swallow flies for a penny. For one-third of the profits, I exhibited him in a tent." When he was age 9, his widowed mother moved to San Francisco where, following ...

19. William Boyd

Actor | Flaming Gold

The son of a day laborer, William Boyd moved with his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was seven. His parents died while he was in his early teens, forcing him to quit school and take such jobs as a grocery clerk, surveyor and oil field worker. He went to Hollywood in 1919, already gray-haired. ...

20. William Haines

Actor | Show People

Born in Staunton, Virginia, William Haines ran off to live life on his own terms while still in his teens, moving to New York City and becoming friends with such later Hollywood luminaries as designer Orry-Kelly and Cary Grant. His film career started slowly, but by the end of the silent era he was...

21. Wallace Beery

Actor | A Date with Judy

In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on ...

22. Rod La Rocque

Actor | The Locked Door

Rod La Rocque was born Roderick Ross LaRocque on November 29, 1898 in Chicago to a French father and an Irish mother. Stage-struck in his early teen years, he spent his summers with local stock companies, playing juvenile roles for $1.00 per performance. By the time he was 16, while he was ...

23. William Farnum

Actor | The Man Hunter

William Farnum was born the son of G.D. Farnum and Adela Le Gros, actors who trained their William and his two brothers, Dustin Farnum and Marshall Farnum, in their profession. William made his stage debut at the age of 10 in Richmond, Virginia, in a production of "Julius Caesar" starring Edwin ...

If I Were King A Tale of Two Cities The Governor The Spoilers

24. Harrison Ford

Actor | Proud Flesh

Silent screen leading man in films from 1915-1932. He left films in 1932 due to the arrival of sound. He was hit by a car on September 13, 1951, never fully recovered from his injuries and died on December 2, 1957.

The Girl in the Pullman Rubber Tires The Nervous Wreck Almost a Lady Janice Meredith Up in Mabel's Room Hawthorne of the U.S.A. A Pair of Silking Sockings

25. Richard Dix

Actor | Cimarron

Richard Dix was a major leading man at RKO Radio Pictures from 1929 through 1943. He was born Ernest Carlton Brimmer July 18, 1893, in St. Paul, Minnesota. There he was educated, and at the desires of his father, studied to be a surgeon. His obvious acting talent in his school dramatic club led him...

26. Robert Harron

Actor | Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

Today screen actor Robert (Bobby) Harron is one of Hollywood's forgotten souls, although he was a huge celebrity in his time and graced some of the silent screen's most enduring masterpieces. A talented, charismatic star in his heyday, Bobby had everything going for him but died far too young to ...

27. H.B. Warner

Actor | It's a Wonderful Life

Henry Byron Warner was the definitive cinematic Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927). He was born into a prominent theatrical family on October 26, 1875 in London. His father was Charles Warner, and his grandfather was James Warner, both prominent English actors. He replaced ...

28. Milton Sills

Actor | The Sea Hawk

American leading man of silent pictures. Born into affluence in Chicago, he attended the University of Chicago on scholarship and remained there as a professor of psychology and philosophy. A chance visit to the school by actor- manager Donald Robertson led to Sills abandoning his career and ...

29. Harry Carey

Actor | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Born in New York City to a Judge of Special Sessions who was also president of a sewing machine company. Grew up on City Island, New York. Attended Hamilton Military Academy and turned down an appointment to West Point to attend New York Law School, where his law school classmates included future ...

30. Lewis Stone

Actor | The Mask of Fu Manchu

By the time that he was 20, Lewis Stone had turned prematurely grey. He enlisted to fight in the Spanish American War and when he returned, he returned to be a writer. This turned to acting and he began to appear in films during the middle teens. His career was again interrupted by war as he served...

31. Lloyd Hughes

Actor | The Lost World

Lloyd Hughes was born on October 21, 1897 in Bisbee, Arizona, USA. He was an actor, known for The Lost World (1925), The Runaway Bride (1930) and Clipped Wings (1937). He was married to Gloria Hope. He died on June 6, 1958 in San Gabriel, California, USA.

32. George O'Brien

Actor | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

George was the son of the San Francisco Chief of Police who became a college athlete. He was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the Pacific Fleet during World War I. In the early 1920s, George wound up in Hollywood where he worked as a stuntman and part time actor. In 1924, Director John Ford ...

33. Gary Cooper

Actor | High Noon

Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a ...

34. Gilbert Roland

Actor | The Bad and the Beautiful

Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso, later known as Gilbert Roland, was born in 1905 in Mexico. Following his parents to the USA, he did not become the bullfighter he had dreamed of being but became an actor instead. His Mexican roots, his half macho half romantic ways, his handsome virile figure helped ...

35. Lew Cody

Actor | Exchange of Wives

This dark-haired, suave American-born matinée idol of French ancestry abandoned a medical career after receiving favorable reviews for his performance in a school play at McGill University in Montreal.

He then went on to study drama at the Stanhope Wheatcroft School of Acting in New York, toured in ...

36. George Bancroft

Actor | Stagecoach

George Bancroft was raised in Philadelphia and attended high school at Tomes Institute (Philadelphia). He won an impressive appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated as a commissioned officer. He served in the Navy for the prescribed period of required service but no...

37. J. Warren Kerrigan

Actor | Captain Blood

Very popular American star of silent films who left the business at the height of his career. While barely in his teens, he worked as a warehouse clerk until a chance arrived to appear in a vaudeville production. He continued to act in traveling stock productions, though he took a brief time away ...

38. Montagu Love

Actor | Gunga Din

Montague Love - certainly an intriguing name - but his own - started his working life as a newspaper man in London. His primary expertise centered on being a field illustrator and cartoonist who covered the Boer War (1899-1902). His realistic battle sketches gained him popularity among readers, but...

39. Herbert Rawlinson

Actor | The Flame Fighter

Herbert Rawlinson was born on November 15, 1885 in Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK. He was an actor and producer, known for The Flame Fighter (1925), The Carter Case (1919) and The Belle of Broadway (1926). He was married to Loraine Abigail Long, Roberta Arnold and Josephine Norman. He died on ...

40. Richard Arlen

Actor | Island of Lost Souls

During World War I, Richard Arlen served in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps as a pilot, but he never saw combat. After the war he drifted round and eventually wound up in Los Angeles, where he got a job as a motorcycle messenger at a film laboratory. When he crashed into the gates of Paramount ...

41. Sessue Hayakawa

Actor | The Bridge on the River Kwai

Sessue Hayakawa was born in Chiba, Japan. His father was the provincial governor and his mother a member of an aristocratic family of the "samurai" class. The young Hayakawa wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a career officer in the Japanese navy, but he was turned down due to ...

42. Charles Ray

Actor | The Girl I Loved

Ray portrayed simple unaffected country bumpkins in silent rural melodramas. Unfortunately, Ray let Hollywood turn him into a headstrong egotist. Alienating most producers, he put up his own money to finance a major feature called The Courtship of Myles Standish (1923). The film was a miserable ...

The Coward The Clodhopper The Busher The Old Swimmin' Hole The Fire Brigade Getting Gertie's Garter The Garden of Eden

43. William Powell

Actor | The Thin Man

William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was elusive. He did ...

44. John Boles

Actor | Frankenstein

John Boles was an American actor who worked prolifically in both leading and supporting roles for 28 years. He was born in Greenville, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas, where he had studied medicine, in 1917. Boles' parents wanted their son to continue with a career in the medical ...

45. Francis X. Bushman

Actor | Sabrina

Francis X. Bushman was born on January 10, 1883 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Sabrina (1954), The Phantom Planet (1961) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). He was married to Iva Millicient Richardson, Norma Emily Atkin, Beverly Bayne and Josephine ...

46. Reginald Denny

Actor | Rebecca

Sometime in the early 1930s, Denny was between scenes on a movie set when he met a neighborhood boy who was trying to fly a bulky gas-powered model plane. When he tried to help by making an adjustment on the machine, Denny succeeded only in wrecking it. But this launched his infatuation with model ...

47. Clive Brook

Actor | Cavalcade

Born in London, England to Charlotte Mary (opera singer) and George Alfred Brook. He was educated privately. Stage experience included: "Oliver Twist", "Voysey Inheritence", "If I were King", "Importance of Being Ernest", Fair and Warmer", "Over Sunday", "Clothes and the WOman", and many others. ...

48. Francis Ford

Actor | The Purple Mask

Elder brother of the director John Ford and himself a screen director (and John's erstwhile mentor) until the advent of sound. He had also acted in his own films and those of other directors, but turned to acting exclusively circa 1929. As actor, he would provide convincing portrayals of men of ...

49. King Baggot

Actor | Jim Webb, Senator

St. Louis-born King Baggot traveled to New York City with the express intent of crashing Broadway, but began his film career in nearby Fort Lee, NJ, in 1909. It didn't take long before he graduated from actor to writer and director--at times performing all three functions; in Shadows (1914) he not ...

Lady Audley's Secret The Scarlet Letter

50. Donald Crisp

Actor | How Green Was My Valley

White-haired London-born character actor, a familiar face in Hollywood for more than five decades. He was born George William Crisp, the youngest of ten siblings, to working class parents James Crisp and his wife Elizabeth (nee Christy). Despite his humble beginnings, Donald was educated at Oxford ...

The Viking, The Black Pirate, Broken Blossoms

51. Irving Cummings

Director | Curly Top

New York-born Irving Cummings began his career as an actor on the Broadway stage in his late teens, and appeared with the legendary Lillian Russell's company. He entered films in 1909 as an actor, and became a very popular leading man in the early 1920s. He began directing at around that time, ...

52. George Irving

Actor | Bringing Up Baby

George Irving was born on October 5, 1874 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Bringing Up Baby (1938), Man Power (1927) and The Landloper (1918). He was married to Mary Katherine Gilman. He died on September 11, 1961 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

53. Jack Holt

Actor | Cat People

Staunch, granite-jawed American leading man of silent and early talkie films, much associated with Westerns. A native of New York City, Holt often claimed to have been born in Winchester, Virginia, where he grew up. The son of an Episcopal minister, he attended Trinity School in Manhattan, then the...

54. Buck Jones

Actor | The Range Feud

Buck Jones was one of the greatest of the "B" western stars. Although born in Indiana, Jones reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He...

55. Bert Lytell

Actor | Alias the Lone Wolf

Bert Lytell was born on February 24, 1885 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Alias the Lone Wolf (1927), Obey the Law (1926) and A Message from Mars (1921). He was married to Grace Menken, Claire Windsor and Evelyn Vaughn. He died on September 28, 1954 in New ...

56. Eugene O'Brien

Actor | Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Eugene O'Brien, the silent screen matinée idol, was born Louis O'Brien in Boulder, Colorado in 1881, to police marshal John O'Brien and his wife Kate. He studied medicine at the University of Colorado in order to realize his family's ambition that he should become a physician. O'Brien's first love,...

57. Taylor Holmes

Actor | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Taylor Holmes, the American stage and film actor, was born in Newark, New Jersey. He made his Broadway debut in February 1900 in the controversial play "Sapho", which was closed down by the New York Police Department for immorality after 29 performances. In the April 1900 trial, the play was ...

58. Hoot Gibson

Actor | The Horse Soldiers

A pioneering cowboy star of silent and early talking Westerns, Hoot Gibson was one of the 1920s' most popular children's matinée heroes. In his real life, however, he had a rather painful rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags career, a problem that seemed to plague a number of big stars who fell victim ...

The Buckaroo Kid

59. Franklyn Farnum

Actor | Sunset Blvd.

Boston-born Franklyn Farnum was on the vaudeville stage at the age of 12 and was featured in a number of theatre and musical productions by the time he entered silent films near the age of 40. He appeared to be at his most comfortable in the saddle, his career dominated mostly by westerns. Some of ...

The Drug Store Cowboy (1925)

60. Hobart Bosworth

Actor | The Sea Wolf

Hobart Bosworth--pioneering movie director, writer, producer and actor--was born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth on August 11, 1867, in Marietta, OH. He was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father's side and of New York's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers...

61. Robert Warwick

Actor | In a Lonely Place

A prominent matinée stage and silent-film star with handsome features offset only slightly by a prominent proboscis, Robert Warwick was born and raised in Sacramento, California, as Robert Taylor Bien. The gift of music was instilled at an early age (he sang in his church choir) and he initially ...

The Girls Folly The Stolen Voice

62. Carlyle Blackwell

Actor | The Ocean Waif

Carlyle Blackwell was a popular American matinee idol and occasional director of the silent cinema. Debonair and darkly handsome, he made his debut with Vitagraph in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1910) and was seldom out of work as a romantic lead, progressing from one- and two-reelers to feature films by ...

63. John Bowers

Actor | Lorna Doone

Began working in films from 1916, becoming a a star within five years of his debut. His frequent co-star was was Marguerite de la Motte, whom he later married. The advent of sound effectively ended his career. Shortly after attending a party, the distraught 50-year-old Bowers committed suicide by ...

64. Robert Ellis

Director | The Tiger's Trail

Robert Ellis was born on June 27, 1892 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Tiger's Trail (1919), Speed to Burn (1938) and The Ventures of Marguerite (1915). He was married to Vera Reynolds, May Allison, Irene Boyle and Helen Logan. He died on December 29, 1974 in...

65. Thomas Meighan

Actor | The Racket

This once popular silent screen star and older matinee idol for Paramount Studios is all but forgotten today; however, Thomas "Tommy" Meighan was one of the rulers of the Hollywood roost, between the years 1915 and 1928.

He was born in Pittsburgh, his father a president of a major manufacturing ...

66. Conrad Nagel

Actor | The Ship from Shanghai

Conrad Nagel was born on March 16, 1897 in Keokuk, Iowa, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Ship from Shanghai (1930), Quality Street (1927) and Kongo (1932). He was married to Michael Coulson Smith, Lynn Merrick and Ruth Helms. He died on February 24, 1970 in New York City, New York,...

67. Lowell Sherman

Actor | Bachelor Apartment

Lowell Sherman was one of the early cinema's first major stars who successfully made the transition from actor to director. Born in either 1885 or 1888, his parents were John Wm. Sherman, a theatrical producer (1855-1924), and Julia Gray Sherman, an actress and daughter of actress Kate Gray.

In 1905...

68. Elliott Dexter

Actor | The Witching Hour

Elliott Dexter was born on December 21, 1879 in Galveston, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Witching Hour (1921), Woman and Wife (1918) and Daphne and the Pirate (1916). He was married to Mrs. Nina Chisholm Untermyer (socialite) and Marie Doro. He died on June 23, 1941 in Amityville, New ...

69. Jean Hersholt

Actor | Greed

If ever there was a Great Dane in Hollywood it was Jean Hersholt - and one of its great hearts as well. He was from a well-known Danish stage and entertainment family that had toured throughout Europe performing with young Jean as an essential cast member. He graduated from the Copenhagen Art ...

70. Ivan Mozzhukhin

Actor | L'angoissante aventure

Ivan Mozzhukhin was a legendary actor of Russian silent films, who escaped execution by the Soviet Red Army and had a stellar career in Europe.

He was born Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin on September 26, 1889, in the village of Kondol, Saratov province, Russia (now Penza province, Russia). His father was ...

71. Bryant Washburn

Actor | Captain Midnight

Bryant Washburn was born on April 28, 1889 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Captain Midnight (1942), Skinner's Baby (1917) and Till I Come Back to You (1918). He was married to Virginia Vance and Mabel Forrest. He died on April 30, 1963 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, ...

72. Nigel Barrie

Actor | Bab's Diary

Nigel Barrie was born on February 5, 1889 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. He was an actor, known for Bab's Diary (1917), Der Turm des Schweigens (1925) and The Little Minister (1921). He was married to Gertrude Poklington and Helen Lee. He died on October 8, 1971 in South Africa.

73. Monte Blue

Actor | Key Largo

Stalwart, durable Monte Blue, a romantic leading man of the silent days, was born January 11, 1887, as Gerard Monte Blue (some sources indicate 1890, but his mother's application for his admission to the Soldier's and Sailor's Orphan's Home lists his birth date as January 11, 1887). Various sources...

Bitter Apples (1927)

74. Ben Lyon

Actor | Hell's Angels

Ben Lyon was your average boyish, easy-going, highly appealing film personality of the Depression-era 1930s. Although he never rose above second-tier stardom, he would enjoy enduring success both in the United States and in the UK.

Born Ben Lyon, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, the future singer/actor was ...

75. Edmund Lowe

Actor | Chandu the Magician

Tall, athletic leading man, the son of a judge. Lowe was initially slated for the priesthood but switched career paths on several occasions, at one time studying law, then teaching English and elocution. The latter led to his involvement in the acting profession. After briefly appearing in ...

Dressed to Kill What Price Glory Barbara Fretchie The Silent Command

76. Norman Kerry

Actor | The Unknown

Norman Kerry was born on June 16, 1894 in Rochester, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Unknown (1927), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Irresistible Lover (1927). He was married to Kay English, Helen Mary Wells and Rosina Tripp. He died on January 12, 1956 in Los Angeles, ...

77. Ralph Graves

Actor | Rich Men's Sons

Ralph Graves was born on January 23, 1900 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Rich Men's Sons (1927), Flight (1929) and Ticket to a Crime (1934). He was married to Betty Flournoy, Virginia Goodwin and Marjorie Seaman. He died on February 18, 1977 in Santa Barbara, ...

78. Holmes Herbert

Actor | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Holmes Herbert was a tall, intense English actor who made his first films after coming to America. He began in silent movies as a leading man but eventually was relegated to less important roles as a character actor when sound came in. He played in several of the Universal "Sherlock Holmes" movies,...

The Charlatan The Fire Brigade A Woman of the World The ABC of Love

79. Wheeler Oakman

Actor | Lights of New York

Born in Washington, DC, in 1890, screen villain "par excellance" Wheeler Oakman got into films in 1912. He specialized in playing villains, but he wasn't just a one-note, mustache-twirling "bad guy"--a tall, solidly-built, distinguished-looking, almost patrician man, he could effectively play ...

80. Einar Hanson

Actor | Barbed Wire

Einar Hanson was born on June 16, 1899 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Barbed Wire (1927), Livet på landet (1924) and Skeppargatan 40 (1925). He died on June 3, 1927 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

81. Charles Clary

Actor | The Penalty

Charles Clary was born on March 24, 1873 in Charleston, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Penalty (1920), The Rosary (1915) and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921). He was married to Margaret Bechtel. He died on March 24, 1931 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

82. Victor Varconi

Actor | The Divine Lady

Handsome Hollywood character player Victor Varconi was born into a farming family on the Hungarian/Rumanian border. Christened Mihály Várkonyi, his career, following training at Budapest's commercial college and dramatic school, thrived for a time on the Transylvanian stage, where he played leads ...

83. Johnnie Walker

Actor | The Spirit of the USA

Johnnie Walker was born on January 7, 1894 in New York City, New York. At the age of 20 he began singing and dancing in vaudeville. He starred in Edison films and then went to Fox where he was billed as a star. Johnnie's greatest movies were Over the Hill (1920) in which he played the black sheep ...

Fantomas (1920) The Third Alarm (1922) Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923) Red Lights (1923) Wine of Youth (1924) Old Ironsides (1926) Transcontinental Limited (1926) Rose of the Bowery (1927) Bare Knees (1928) The Matinee Idol (1928)

84. Owen Moore

Actor | A Star Is Born

Born in 1884, virile and dashing silent screen idol Owen Moore, equipped with incredibly handsome reddish and ruddy features, came to America with his family from Ireland at the age of 11. After some stage work, he entered films at the Biograph Studio in 1908 and appeared in many of D.W. Griffith's...

The Red Mill The Road to Mandalay The Blackbird Married?

85. Matt Moore

Actor | Rain

Matt Moore was born on January 8, 1888 in County Meath, Ireland. He was an actor and director, known for Rain (1932), The Unholy Three (1925) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). He died on January 20, 1960 in Hollywood, California, USA.

86. Donald Keith

Actor | The Plastic Age

Donald Keith was born on September 6, 1903 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Plastic Age (1925), First Aid (1931) and Parisian Love (1925). He was married to Kathryn Spicuzza. He died on August 1, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Brother of Ian Keith (I) (1899–1960)

87. Creighton Hale

Actor | The Cat and the Canary

Creighton Hale was born on May 24, 1882 in County Cork, Ireland. He was an actor, known for The Cat and the Canary (1927), The Circle (1925) and Riley of the Rainbow Division (1928). He was married to Victoire Lowe and Kathleen Bering. He died on August 9, 1965 in South Pasadena, California, USA.

88. Alan Hale

Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood

Alan Hale decided on a film career after his attempt at becoming an opera singer didn't pan out. He quickly became much in demand as a supporting actor, starred in several films for Cecil B. DeMille and directed others for him. With the advent of sound, Hale played leads in a few films but soon ...

89. Kenneth Harlan

Actor | The Penalty

Kenneth Harlan was born on July 26, 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Penalty (1920), Paradise Island (1930) and Danger Island (1931). He was married to Rosemarie Gonsalves Mirjanian, Rhea Walker, Helene Stanton, Helen (Donna) Spelner, Phyllis McClure, Doris Hilda ...

The Ice Flood The Primitive Lover

90. Roy Stewart

Actor | Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness

Tall in the saddle, and dark and handsome to boot, he may be little remembered today when compared to a William S. Hart, Tom Mix or Hoot Gibson, but cowboy hero Roy Stewart was arguably one of the best known of the silent screen back then. While touring with the famous Floradora Girls, Stewart ...

The Viking You Never Know Women Sparrows Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness With Buffalo Bill on the U. P. Trail

91. Charles 'Buddy' Rogers

Actor | Wings

"America's Boyfriend" Buddy Rogers was born in Olathe Kansas and became a talented musician on several instruments. He began acting in Hollywood in the 1920's and is probably best remembered as Clara Bow's love interest in "Wings". He also made several appearances in the "Mexican Spitfire" series ...

92. Theodore Roberts

Actor | Grumpy

The son of a sea captain, Theodore Roberts was a veteran stage actor, making his first appearance in 1880. Often referred to as the "Grand Duke of Hollywood," Roberts was a regular on the Cecil B. DeMille team and appeared in 23 of DeMille's films. He is best remembered for his role as Moses in ...

93. Mahlon Hamilton

Actor | Half a Chance

Mahlon Hamilton was born on June 15, 1880 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor, known for Half a Chance (1920), Daddy-Long-Legs (1919) and The Single Standard (1929). He was married to Alita Bratton Farnum and Sara L. Leary. He died on June 20, 1960 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, ...

94. Ernest Torrence

Actor | Steamboat Bill, Jr.

He was the man you loved to hiss. This towering (6' 4"), highly imposing character star with cold, hollow, beady eyes and a huge, protruding snout would go on to become one of the silent screen's finest arch villains. Born Ernest Thayson Torrence-Thompson on June 26, 1878, in Edinburgh, Scotland, ...

95. Vernon Steele

Actor | Captain Blood

Vernon Steele was born on September 18, 1882 in Santiago, Chile. He was an actor, known for Captain Blood (1935), Kidnapped (1938) and Temptation (1923). He was married to Vivia Steele and Muriel Maude Walker. He died on July 23, 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

96. Alan Roscoe

Actor | The Last of the Mohicans

Born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1886 (some sources say 1887 or 1888, but U.S. Census records confirm 1886), he taught school. He became active in the theatre and was eventually signed by William Fox. Appearing in films for Fox as well as Samuel Goldwyn, Roscoe became best known as leading man ...

97. Raymond Griffith

Actor | The Night Club

Raymond Griffith was born on January 23, 1895 in Boston, Massachusetts into a theatrical family. His parents, James Henry Griffith and Mary Guichard, were both actors, as were his grandfather, Gerald Griffith, and his great grandfather, Thomas Griffith. Young Raymond made his stage debut when he ...

Trent's Last Case Hands Up!(1926) Night Club Forty Winks

98. James Kirkwood

Director | In Wrong

A veteran stage actor, James Kirkwood entered films in 1909 as an actor and was soon playing leads in many of D.W. Griffith's early pictures. He turned to directing in 1912, and by 1914 was the favorite director of Mary Pickford, with whom he made nine films; he also co-starred in three of them. ...

99. Dustin Farnum

Actor | The Squaw Man

American leading man of silent pictures who specialized in Westerns. His mother and father were, respectively, a singer and an actor, and he and his younger brother William Farnum were introduced to the theatre at an early age. Raised in Maine, Dustin attended the East Maine Conference Seminary, ...

100. Ivor Novello

Writer | Downhill

While his special gifts seemed to lie in music and composing, the dapper, multi-talented Welsh actor Ivor Novello (ne David Ivor Davies), with his leading-man good looks, had a strong affinity for the camera.

Born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1893, he was the son of a tax-collector father and a well-known ...