Ford Sterling

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Ford Sterling, mid (1919)

Ford Sterling (born George Ford Stich ; born November 3, 1883 in La Crosse , Wisconsin , † October 13, 1939 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film and stage actor , comedian , film director and producer . He was in front of the camera in nearly 300 films, mostly short films, of which more than 80 were in 1913 alone.

Life

Ford Sterling ran away from home at a young age and joined the Big Top circus of performer and ringmaster John Robinson. He soon became known under the name Keno, the Boy Clown on the tours of the circus. As a young man, Sterling began to play theater as a member of various troops and impressed, among other things, in Uncle Tom's Hut by Harriet Beecher Stowe , but also in Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar . Between 1905 and 1907 he also appeared in three plays on Broadway .

Around 1911 Sterling was discovered by the biographer- director Mack Sennett , who first engaged the actor in the same year for the short film Dutch Gold Mine . At the end of 1912, Sterling became one of the first stars of the newly founded Keystone, alongside Mabel Normand , Fred Mace and Sennett . Here Sterling was often occupied and in villain roles most effective way of example in Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life , with typical sardonic plucking the mustache . He also succeeded as the head of Keystone Kops , a group of changing comedians in the roles of clumsy and funny police officers. Among all of his film characters, Sterling made a name for himself as a dutch character (which at the time was synonymous with German in the USA), including a top hat, frock coat, wire- frame glasses and goatee .

Sterling's grimacing facial expressions in the comedies, which from today's point of view seem rather exaggerated and intrusive, contrasted with an extraordinary body control; It is above all his unmistakable, grotesque movements and gestures that still amuse today. Sterling is considered to be the founder of the short jump, which was used extensively, especially in the comedies of the 1910s, when one actor set out to pursue another. One of the more original ideas of the comedian was also the peculiarity of jumping on the shoulder of his opponent and biting his ear, a gag that was also picked up by other Keystone comedians.

From 1913 on, Sterling trumped Vitagraph comedian John Bunny in the audience's favor and was thus the most popular male comedian in America for about a year, until Charlie Chaplin appeared on the big screen. In early 1914, shortly after Mabel Normand, he was also the first Keystone star to direct his own films, a task that he rarely took on. In the same year he left the Keystone with director Henry Lehrman to set up his own Sterling Film Company. In early 1915 he returned ruefully to Sennett, with whom he stayed until 1920. Later he made the leap to sound film without any problems, but without ever being able to build on his star status from earlier years.

In private, Sterling was one of the wealthiest men of his time. He was often referred to as the "best dressed man in Hollywood ". Even trips to England and France were not too far for him to buy clothes . Sterling owned a villa in Nice . He also bred German shepherds and Persian cats in his spare time . In 1914, the then 31-year-old Sterling caused a sensation when he married the only 16-year-old actress Teddy Sampson . The two were married until Sterling's death in 1939, the marriage remained childless.

Ford Sterling, who suffered from long-term diabetes mellitus , died of a heart attack at the age of 55 . In his honor there is a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1912: Tragedy of the Dress Suit
  • 1912: An Interrupted Elopement
  • 1912: The Water Nymph
  • 1912: A Grocery Clerk's Romance
  • 1913: A Strong Revenge
  • 1913: On His Wedding Day
  • 1913: A Life in the Balance
  • 1913: A Fishy Affair
  • 1913: Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life
  • 1913: Mabel's Dramatic Career
  • 1913: The Speed ​​Kings
  • 1913: A Muddy Romance
  • 1913: Cohen Saves the Flag
  • 1914: Between Showers
  • 1914: A film Johnnie
  • 1914: Tango Tangle
  • 1915: That Little Band of Gold
  • 1915: Court House Crooks
  • 1915: Dirty Work in a Laundry
  • 1917: Her Torpedoed Love
  • 1919: Yankee Doodle in Berlin (as Kaiser Wilhelm II. )
  • 1919: Hearts and Flowers
  • 1924: The Man Who Got the Slapped (He Who Gets Slapped)
  • 1925: Stage Struck
  • 1926: The Show Off
  • 1929: Cilly (Sally)
  • 1931: Stout Hearts and Willing Hands
  • 1933: Alice in Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland)
  • 1935: Keystone Hotel

Web links

Commons : Ford Sterling  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Sterling, Ford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stitch, George Ford
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and film director
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH La Crosse , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1939
Place of death Los Angeles , California