Charles Bryant

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Charles Bryant (right) with his wife, actress Alla Nazimova

Charles Bryant (born January 8, 1879 in Hartford , Cheshire , United Kingdom , † August 7, 1948 in Mount Kisco , New York , USA ) was a British silent film actor, director and screenwriter. He became known through his marriage of convenience with the famous actress Alla Nazimova .

Live and act

Bryant was born in 1879 and began acting at the age of eight. After leaving Ardingly College at fourteen to become a professional actor, he came to the United States in 1897, where his career began on Broadway . There he played in plays by Henrik Ibsen and Edith Wharton , was an actor under the direction of David Belasco and - after the end of his film career - he became the director of plays on Broadway himself. On Broadway, the most famous actors he shot with were his wife Alla Nazimova and Lionel Atwill . He also wrote three scripts and directed a total of four films.

His film career began in 1914 and ended after the failure of Salome in 1923. In these six years, he was in front of the camera around 17 times and directed 3 times himself, especially the failure of Salome . Several times he was in front of the camera with his wife.

After his film career ended, he went back to Broadway, where he worked as an actor and director until his death in 1948 at the age of 69.

Marriage of convenience with Alla Nazimova

While working on Broadway, he met his future wife, the then very famous and eccentric actress Alla Nazimova. They both married in 1912 and divorced in 1920. Bryant was - as we now know - homosexual and Nazimova bisexual . Both married in order to portray a bourgeois life in the homophobic Hollywood of those years. The marriage was never consummated, and Bryant and Nazimova often did not live in the same apartment at all.

Filmography (selection)

  • A train of incidents , 1914.
  • The Spider , 1915.
  • The Masquerades , 1915.
  • Toys of Fate , 1918.
  • Stronger than death , 1920.
  • Billions , 1920.

swell

personal data
SURNAME Bryant, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British silent film actor, director and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartford , Cheshire , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1948
Place of death Mount Kisco , New York , USA