Eric Campbell

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Eric Campbell

Eric Campbell (born April 26, 1880 in Cheshire , † December 20, 1917 in Hollywood ) was a British actor.

Life

The tall, stocky Eric Campbell played theater in Scotland and Wales and was discovered by the English theater director Fred Karno , who is also considered the discoverer of Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel . In 1914, like Chaplin and Laurel before, he came to New York with a carnival production . He stayed in the United States and established himself as a stage actor. In 1915 Chaplin saw him in a Broadway performance and hired him for his ensemble, which he rearranged for Mutual Films . Campbell then played the weighty villain as Chaplin's counterpart in eleven Chaplin films.

In 1917 his wife died in a car accident. A short time later he met his second wife, whom he married in the same year. Campbell was now a heavy drinker. He was scheduled to make a film with Mary Pickford in 1918, and Chaplin was planning more films with him for First National when he had a fatal accident at the wheel of his car while drunk.

Web links

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