King Baggot (actor)
William King Baggot (born November 7, 1879 in St. Louis , Missouri , † July 11, 1948 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor , director and screenwriter .
life and career
King Baggot was the son of a real estate agent who immigrated from Ireland. After being considered a talented soccer and baseball player in high school, he began his professional life as an office worker in his uncle's firm in Chicago. He began his acting career at the turn of the century in his hometown of St. Louis, initially with an amateur group in his Catholic parish. After all, he became a full-time theater actor and appeared in many plays by William Shakespeare .
He made his film debut in 1909 in The Awakening of Bess on the side of Florence Lawrence . That was at a time when the names of the actors were otherwise unnamed in all film opening credits and thus anonymous - Baggot and Lawrence were the first whose names were mentioned in the film opening credits and thus made known to the public, which is why they are often referred to as the first “movie stars “To be called at all. Especially in the 1910s, Baggot was considered an internationally known silent film star . The press described him as "the king of the movie theater", "the most photographed man in the world" and "the man whose face is more famous than the man in the moon".
After directing his first film in 1911, Baggot also tried to direct a film from the 1920s. Perhaps the best-known work under his direction today is the Western Tumbleweeds , the last and, according to many critics, also the best film with western legend William S. Hart . Baggot's alcohol problem and arguments with studio bosses caused him increasing problems, however, which meant that after 1927 he could no longer make any films as a director. His acting star had also fallen, in the 1930s and 1940s he only received offers for small supporting roles or extras. Nevertheless, he remained loyal to the film business until a year before his death and thus played in over 300 film productions from 1909 to 1947.
King Baggot died of a stroke in July 1948 at the age of 68. In 1960 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6312 Hollywood Blvd.)
Filmography (selection)
As a director
- 1911: The Lie
- 1913: Ivanhoe (also actor)
- 1922: The Kentucky Derby
- 1923: The Darling of New York
- 1925: Tumbleweeds
- 1925: Raffles : The Amateur Cracksman
- 1927: The Notorious Lady
As an actor
- 1911: The Scarlet Letter
- 1913: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- 1932: What Price Hollywood?
- 1934: The Black Cat (The Black Cat)
- 1935: Scandal in the Opera (A Night at the Opera)
- 1936: San Francisco
- 1936: The Devil Doll
- 1937: The Marx Brothers: A Day at the Races
- 1938: Teufelskerle (Boys Town)
- 1938: Marie Antoinette
- 1940: The Night Before the Wedding (The Philadelphia Story)
- 1941: The Marx Brothers in the department store (The Big Store)
- 1941: Come Live with Me (Come Live With Me)
- 1941: Girls in the Spotlight (Ziegfeld Girl)
- 1943: Girl Crazy
- 1943: Laurel and Hardy - Terror of All Spies (Air Raid Wardens)
- 1944: An American Romance
- 1945: Vacation for Love (The Clock)
- 1946: The Postman Always Rings Twice (The Postman Always Rings Twice)
- 1947: Good News
- 1947: Merton of the Movies
Web links
- King Baggot in theInternet Movie Database(English)
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Baggot, King |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Baggot, William King (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American actor, director and screenwriter |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 7, 1879 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Louis , Missouri |
DATE OF DEATH | July 11, 1948 |
Place of death | Los Angeles , California |