Elmer Clifton
Elmer Clifton (born March 14, 1890 in Chicago , Illinois , † October 15, 1949 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American director, assistant director, screenwriter, producer and actor.
Life
Elmer Clifton was an actor on the theater stages from 1907 before he came to the film business from 1912. The handsome actor has appeared in many of David Wark Griffith's films , including The Birth of a Nation (1915) as a young soldier and Intolerance (1916) as a seductive poet from Babylonia. However, Clifton showed an early interest in working behind the camera. He served as Griffith's assistant director on many of his films. Clifton directed his first independent film in 1915 with the short film drama The Artist's Wife . In 1917 he finally gave up acting to work exclusively as a director from then on. His mentors were DW Griffith and Joseph Henabery . In total, Clifton was to make almost 100 films by the time he died.
As early as the late 1910s, Clifton directed successful feature films with well-known names such as Herbert Rawlinson , Dorothy Gish and Rudolph Valentino . Most of his silent films, however, have been lost. In 1922 he shot the lavish love drama Down to the Sea in Ships , where he cast Clara Bow in a supporting role, which was a milestone in her rise to superstar. However, a tragedy happened in Clifton's drama The Warrens of Virginia , where the frilly dress of leading actress Martha Mansfield caught fire and she died a little later of her burns. Clifton also pioneered some of the early Technicolor shorts. With the start of talkies in the late 1920s, he remained a busy director who now mostly shot B-movies for smaller Poverty Row studios. For example, he directed the anti-drug exploitation film Assassian of Youth (1937) and, in 1944, the first film adaptation of the comic series Captain America . In addition to directing many of his films, he was also responsible for the script and production.
In 1949, Clifton directed Sally Forrest in the lead role in the drama Seduced when he suffered a heart attack, so that Ida Lupino had to finish the film (for Lupino this meant the start of a long directing career). Elmer Clifton died of an intracerebral hemorrhage shortly after the film premiered at the age of 59 .
Filmography (selection)
As an actor
- 1912: The Lake of Dreams
- 1915: The Broken Toy
- 1915: The Birth of a Nation (The Birth of a Nation)
- 1915: The Lily and the Rose
- 1916 intolerance (Intolerance)
- 1917: Nina, the Flower Girl
As an assistant director
- 1915: The Birth of a Nation
- 1916 intolerance (Intolerance)
- 1920: Far to the east (Way Down East)
As a director
- 1915: The Artist's Wife
- 1917: The Flame of Youth
- 1919: Nugget Nail
- 1922: Down to the Sea in Ships
- 1924: The Warrens of Virginia
- 1931: Maid to Order
- 1936: Custer's Last Stand
- 1937: Assassin of Youth
- 1937: Slaves in bondage
- 1938: The Secret of Treasure Island
- 1941: City of Missing Girls
- 1943: The Blocked Trail
- 1944: Captain America
- 1944: Seven Doors to Death
- 1949: The Judge
- 1949: Not Wanted
- 1950: The Silver Bandit
Web links
- Elmer Clifton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Elmer Clifton in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Golden, Eve; Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars ; Jefferson: McFarland & Co; P. 40
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clifton, Elmer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 14, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1949 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California |