Henry Kolker

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Henry Kolker (around 1910)

Henry Kolker (born November 13, 1870 or 1874 in Berlin , Germany or Quincy , Illinois , † July 15, 1947 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor and silent film director.

Life

Henry Kolker was born as the son of the German-American Wilhelm Kolker (1830–1909), who was born near Fulda , and his wife Katherina Metzger Kolker (1841–1932). Wilhelm Kolker emigrated to the USA in 1850 and set up a retail business there. There is some confusion about the circumstances of Henry Kolker's birth, with both 1870 and 1874 being mentioned as roughly equal. Some sources assume that Quincy was born , where the Kolker family lived, but others also state that he was born in Berlin and stayed there until he was five.

Kolker made his Broadway debut in 1902, but he had probably been an actor for a number of years before that. In total, he appeared on Broadway in 17 plays by 1917 and gained a large female following. He played alongside famous actresses such as Edith Wynne Matthison, Bertha Kalich and Ruth Chatterton . He also went on tour trips to Australia.

After leaving Broadway, he began working as an actor and director. Until 1924 he directed 18 films, including a biography of Benjamin Disraeli with theater star George Arliss in the lead role, which is now considered lost. From the mid-1920s he worked exclusively as an actor, and by 1947 Kolker had over 170 film appearances. Most of his appearances were supporting roles, which however mostly received a credit in the opening or closing credits. In the sound film era , Kolker often appeared as a strict, unfriendly authority figure. For example, he played a prosecutor in the Mary Pickford drama Coquette (1929) alongside Mary Pickford and starred in the pre-code film Baby Face (1933) as a senior manager who falls for the young Barbara Stanwyck . Perhaps his best-known appearance today was in 1938 under the direction of George Cukor , when he played the materialist father of Katharine Hepburn in the tragic comedy The Bride's Sister . Occasionally, however, Kolker was able to embody friendlier characters, for example as brother Laurence in the Shakespeare film adaptation Romeo and Juliet (1936) alongside Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard .

In the 1940s, Kolker increasingly withdrew from the acting business and only played a few minor roles. He was married to Margaret Bruenn for the second time since 1926, they had one child. Kolker died of a fall and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park , Glendale .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katherina Kolker at Find A Grave
  2. ↑ William Kolker at Find A Grave
  3. ↑ William Kolker at Find A Grave
  4. ^ Disraeli (1921) at SilentEra.com
  5. ^ Henry Kolker at Allmovie
  6. ^ Henry Kolker at Allmovie
  7. ^ Henry Kolker at Find A Grave
personal data
SURNAME Kolker, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Quincy , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1947
Place of death Los Angeles , California