George Beranger

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George Beranger in his role in The Birth of a Nation (1915)

George André de Beranger (born March 27, 1893 in Enmore near Sydney , New South Wales as George Augustus Beringer , † March 8, 1973 in Laguna Beach , California ) was an Australian - American actor and silent film director .

life and career

George Beringer was born as the youngest of five children in a village near Sydney to Caroline Mondientz and the machine fitter Adam Beringer, who came from Germany. His mother committed suicide when he was three years old. Beranger later made a certain mystery of his origins in Hollywood, claiming that his real name was André de Beranger and that he was of French descent and had a school education in Paris. After Beranger left his family at the age of 14, he took acting lessons with the Scottish theater actor Walter Bentley and played Shakespeare roles in his theater company Walter Bentley Players . In 1912 he arrived in Vancouver in North America on a steamboat and emigrated illegally to the USA, where he soon played alongside Donald Crisp Theater in New York .

His first film was in 1913, The Well at the side of Lionel Barrymore and Harry Carey . As early as the following year Beranger began filming with star director David Wark Griffith . In addition to his film appearances - including a supporting role as a Confederate soldier in Griffith's controversial but groundbreaking epic The Birth of a Nation - Beranger also served as one of Griffith's assistant directors. Beranger himself acted as a director for a total of ten silent films between 1914 and 1924. In 1919 he was again in a villain role in the film drama Broken Blossoms , directed by Griffith. His acting career peaked in the 1920s, and he played major roles in over 40 films in that decade. He often embodied noble men with a comedic touch, adventurers and eccentrics. He starred in Roland West's crime film Das Rätsel der Fledermaus (1926), appeared in Ernst Lubitsch's So ist Paris (1926) and embodied Lord Byron in Beau Brummel's love affairs (1924).

With the dawn of talkies at the end of the 1920s, Beranger's acting success waned and until his last film in 1950 he mostly had to be content with minor supporting roles. So he had to look for a second job as a draftsman with the Los Angeles City Council. Beranger sold many of his properties, including a villa built at the height of his career in the 1920s, and bought a cottage in Laguna Beach. There Beranger married a neighboring widow, although he was relatively openly homosexual for his time, but the two never shared a house. At last he lived withdrawn and forgotten by the public in his cottage, where he was found dead by his postman shortly before his 80th birthday.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bryony Cosgrove: The stuff of silent legend. March 2, 2012, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  2. ^ Bryony Cosgrove: The stuff of silent legend. March 2, 2012, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  3. ^ André Beranger | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved April 13, 2019 (American English).
  4. ^ Bryony Cosgrove: The stuff of silent legend. March 2, 2012, accessed April 13, 2019 .
  5. ↑ A Laguna Beach Silent Film Star's Story Sounds a Lot Like "The Artist" - Laguna Beach, CA Patch. March 8, 2012, accessed April 13, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Beranger, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Beranger, George André (full name); Beringer, George Augustus (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Enmore near Sydney , New South Wales
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1973
Place of death Laguna Beach , California , United States