Henry B. Walthall

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Henry B. Walthall (1911)

Henry B. Walthall (born March 16, 1878 in Shelby County , Alabama , † June 17, 1936 in Monrovia , California ) was an American film actor , who achieved lasting fame mainly for his leading role in The Birth of a Nation .

life and career

Henry Brazeale Walthall was born on a plantation near Shelby as one of eight children and performed in school theater groups as a teenager . At the age of 20 he fought in the Spanish-American War for almost a year . In 1901 he made his stage debut as an actor in New York. During his work he became acquainted with James Kirkwood , who introduced him to the new medium of film.

Walthall began his film career in 1908 in the eight-minute biographical film Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (Director: James Searle Dawley ), in which the budding director David Wark Griffith also appeared. In 1910 he moved the studio to the sunnier west coast. In the years that followed, Walthall was one of the stars of the Biograph Company, performing with Jack and Mary Pickford , Owen Moore , Lillian Gish , Kate Bruce , Charles West and others. Griffith's films Home, Sweet Home (1914) and even more his role as Holofernes in Judith of Bethulia (1914) - his last film for the Biograph - made him a star. His restrained play also earned him success in the lead role of Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's Southern Epic The Birth of a Nation (1915), a high point in Walthall's career.

He then left DW Griffith and went to Essanay for the time being , where he had his best performance in the Edgar Allan Poe adaptation The Raven (1915). In 1918 he founded his own film company, Henry B. Walthall Pictures Inc. , which was unsuccessful. In the 1920s he became a supporting actor, or played the second leading role. He appeared in 1925 in The Plastic Age with Gilbert Roland and Clara Bow , and in 1926 in Victor Sjöström's adaptation of The Scarlet Letter with Lillian Gish . He was also involved in the production of the Oscar-winning wing . The roles offered to him became more and more character roles in the 1920s, also since he was now around 50 years old. Walthall was cast alongside Lon Chaney in several works with director Tod Browning . He played the gentleman killer Sir James Hamlin in the now-lost film At Midnight (London After Midnight) (1927).

Due to his sonorous baritone voice, trained by the theater, Walthall was increasingly used again with the beginning of the sound film era, he often played authority roles such as professors, lawyers, fathers or ministers. As Reverend Ashby Brand in Judge Priest (1934) directed by John Ford , he had his most convincing and most successful role in a talkie. His last film was China Clipper (1936). Henry B. Walthall appeared in more than 300 films before his death. His contribution to the film was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.

Walthall was married twice; his first marriage with Isabel Fenton ended in divorce after ten years in 1917, his second with Mary Charleson lasted until his death in 1936 - he died of the flu. In 1918 his only daughter Patricia was born.

Filmography (selection)

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personal data
SURNAME Walthall, Henry B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walthall, Henry Brazeale (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Shelby County , Alabama , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1936
Place of death Monrovia , California , United States