Forgotten Actors: September 2022

Watched 'Melvin and Howard (1980)'. Several actors who qualify for this blog were in it including Jason Robards Jr., Michael J. Pollard, Gloria Grahame, Charlene Holt and Herbie Faye. I will add them soon.

16th June 2022

A few months ago I watched the Margaret Rutherford films 'Murder She Said (1961)', 'Murder at the Gallop (1963)', 'Murder Most Foul (1964)' and 'Murder Ahoy (1964)' in which she plays Miss Marple from the Agatha Christie novels. Today I began to add the pictures from these films.

New actors added: Joan Benham.

15th June 2022

Added the pictures from 'Another Fine Mess (1930)' today.

New actors added: Bill Knight, Bettymae Crane, Beverly Crane, and Bob Minford.

Additional pictures added: Gertrude Sutton, Eddie Dunn, Harry Bernard, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charles K. Gerrard, James Finlayson, Bobby Burns, and Thelma Todd.

There is an excellent website that helps me put together this blog. The site is dedicated to all things concerning Hal Roach Studios; the films, the actors and the locations and anything else related to those films. Have a look at Another Nice Mess to find more details about some of the actors here.

Watched 'The Gibson Goddess (1909)' and re-watched 'Her First Biscuits (1909)'.

New actors added: Marion Leonard, Dorothy West, Anthony O'Sullivan, Gertrude Robinson, Jeanie Macpherson (added 16th June), Billy Quirk (added 16th June) and John R. Cumpson.

Additional pictures added: Mary Pickford, and George Nichols. A picture was also added to Kate Bruce after re-watching 'The Country Doctor (1909).'

Re-watched 'The Country Doctor (1909)'.

New actors added: Rose King, Kate Bruce, Adele DeGarde.

Additional pictures added: Mary Pickford.

13th June 2022

Don't often add actors from television shows at the moment, but I stumbled upon a show from 1956 called Private Secretary.

New actors added: Jesse White

Additional pictures added: George E. Stone.

12th June 2022

Watched 'Another Fine Mess (1930)' again, but this time with my son, who likes Laurel and Hardy and has seen many of the shorts. Also, I've never watched it before with the intention of adding the actors to the blog.

9th June 2022

Finished watching 'Made for Love (1926)' thank goodness. Very boring. Several unidentified actors have a featured role. One is suggested to be Malcolm Denny (Reginald Denny's brother) but I need to find another film of his to confirm before he is entered into this blog.

7th June 2022

Often, I go back to a film I've seen before to find the actors I missed the first time around. This was the case today with 'Back Door to Heaven (1939)', a film I first watched several years ago. The Louis Morrison error I mentioned on 31st May 2022 was in this film, which prompted me to have another look at it.

New actors added: Raymond Roe, Kenneth LeRoy, and Hugh Cameron.

Additional pictures added: Robert B. Williams.

5th June 2022

Watched a short silent comedy 'Pep Up (1929)' today starring Cliff Bowes. This is a light comedy with very little storyline. Cliff Bowes reminds me of Glenn Tryon of Hal Roach Studios and the comedy is just as weak. It was lovely to see Adrienne Dore for the first time. Also, Bobby Barber appears briefly in one of his earliest films.

New actors added: Adrienne Dore, Cliff Bowes, Marshall Ruth, and William Dale.

Additional pictures added: Emily Gerdes, and Bobby Barber.

As usual, plenty of extras to sift through to see if I recognise any of them. Unlikely, though.

3rd June 2022

Started watching the silent feature 'Made for Love (1926)' properly today. It's a difficult watch because it is so boring, but I will get through it one of these days. Lots of slow movement from Leatrice Joy in close up. Not very engaging. I only watched it because Leatrice Joy was in it, but she was dull.

New actors added: Leatrice Joy, Ethel Wales, Lincoln Stedman, Frank Butler, Neely Edwards, Snitz Edwards, and Bertram Grassby.

31st May 2022

Watched 'The Unholy Three (1925)' in its entirety for the first time. Previously I dipped into the film to look for Harry Earles in his baby costume to compare this version with the sound version from 1930. This is one of those situations where I tell people I love Lon Chaney and then realise I've only seen two of his films. It a realisation that happens to me more often than not. Another example was Humphrey Bogart. I really liked him, but I had only seen one of his films all the way through. I've now put that right and still like him.

This was a superior film for 1925, in my opinion, particularly for the performances of Chaney and Mae Busch. My dilemma with this and other films is whether to add people to the blog who are not particularly actors, like the fat lady or human skeleton that appear at the beginning. From the offset, however, I have always maintained in my own mind that this blog was more about the supporting actors, extras and others who appear in the films and less about the stars, even though it is fun adding them all. There is only one sword swallower in the film and I don't know which one he is, so I have left him out for now. Apparently, Marjorie Morton plays Mrs. Arlington. The lady I presume who was this character was almost completely obscured facially. Therefore I've not included her in the blog. Her other films are not available to me. I don't remember seeing the 'Wild Borneo Man' in the film, so John Millerta has not been added.

New actors added: Mickey McBan, Carrie Clark Ward, Alice Jullian, Mary Angus, Margie Angus, Carrie Daumery, Charles Wellesley, John Merkyl, Edward Connelly, William Humphrey, Louis Shank, Violet N. Cane, Percy Williams, Vera Vance, and Walter P. Cole (added 1st June).

Additional pictures added: Lon Chaney, Mae Busch, Matt Moore, Victor McLaglen, Matthew Betz, E. Alyn Warren, and Walter Perry.

I made a correction to Louis Morrison's post. The previous entry was wrong and has been removed. This is why I like to watch more than one film of a particular actor.

I rely heavily on other researchers' information for actors such as Louis Shank who was not in many films that we know of, which therefore makes confiming his identity nigh on impossible.

There was a lot of extras in this film. I would love to identify some of them.

Had a quick look at the beginning of 'Made for Love (1929)'. Added Edmund Burns to the blog.

Watched the surviving fragments of the otherwise lost film 'The Way of All Flesh (1927)'. An impressive performance from Emil Jannings for which he won the very first 'best actor' Academy Award.

New actos added: Emil Jannings, Donald Keith.

30th May 2022

Finished watching 'Too Many Kisses (1926)'. Decided to continue watching films newly entered into the Public Domain this year. The main reason for watching this particular film was so that I could identify the previously mentioned Arthur Ludwig and hopefully also add his inclusion in 'Old Ironsides (1926)'. Too Many Kisses was an enjoyable film even though the plot was extremely thin. I think this is first time I've seen William Powell in a silent film.

New actors added: Joseph Burke, Frank Currier, Arthur Ludwig, Frances Howard and Alyce Mills.

Additional pictures added: Richard Dix, William Powell, Albert Tavernier, and Paul Panzer. I had already added the picture of Harpo Marx from this film some time ago, which I got from a clip on YouTube.

I have newly identified Lois Moran in 'Too Many Kiss (1926)'. Her appearance is brief in the office scene early in the film.

27th May 2022

Finished watching 'Old Ironsides (1926)', a film I decided to watch to see if I could find Bess Flowers in it as reported on other websites. I could not! I particularly loved the performances of Wallace Beery and George Bancroft as two veterans of the sea. It also allowed me to add the following actors and actresses to my blog: the American Charles Farrell (I already had the Irish CF), Johnnie Walker, Charles Hill Mailes, the boxer George Godfrey, William Conklin, Effie Ellsler and Guy Oliver.

Added new pictures for: Wallace and George (as stated earlier), Esther Ralston, Eddie Fetherston, Fred Kohler, and Spec O'Donnell.

I was looking for Arthur Ludwig but I didn't know what he looked like. As for the Fred Kohler identification, I am still only 99% sure it's him. I need to see some other films of his from that era. There is a moment in the film when Spec O'Donnell exclaims 'Ain't fightin' great!' and a minute later it appears that he is killed in battle, but then appears in close up again a few minutes after this.

Far From Forgotten

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Gordon MacRae

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Blog Updates - April to June 2022