Larry Semon
Lawrence "Larry" Semon (born July 16, 1889 in West Point , Mississippi , † October 8, 1928 in Victorville , California ) was an American actor , screenwriter and film director , one of the most popular slapstick comedians of the silent movie era.
Live and act
The son of a wizard began his professional career in the first decade of the 20th century as a cartoonist for the New York Sun newspaper . In 1915 he was hired by the Vitagraph production company as a director, screenwriter and gag writer for films.
Even during the First World War , Semon reached a high level of popularity. He soon found his very own, unmistakable style: with a cheese-pale face and wide-open eyes, a wide-brimmed hat on his head and heavily baggy trousers that were pulled up well over his narrow chest by large braces, he embodied lively village idiots who magical anger attracted. Semon's specialties were hair-raising chases of burlesque comedy and nerve-wracking tension.
After Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd , Larry Semon was considered America's most talented and successful film comedian and slapstick artist until the 1920s. He realized several of his short film productions in the early 1920s together with the later Elvis Presley director Norman Taurog . Before the two were welded together into a team, Semon also stood in front of the camera several times with his colleagues Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy .
Only with the end of his Vitagraph contract - Semon used to massively overrun the production budget - his star gradually began to decline. He also made full-length feature films that found their audience, but no longer justified the considerable investment. In 1925 he took on the role of the scarecrow in the first film adaptation of Lyman Frank Baum 's classic children's book The Wizard of Oz . After his last major film appearance (in Josef von Sternberg's gangster drama Unterwelt ) Semon went on a vaudeville tour.
He died in 1928 in the Gracelon Ranch sanatorium , largely forgotten by the film industry, bankrupt and at the end of his career. His short films were shown on German television in the 1970s on ARD's evening program as part of a slapstick film series.
On February 8, 1960, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography (selection)
as a director, screenwriter and actor
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literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 7: R - T. Robert Ryan - Lily Tomlin. Schwarzkopf and Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 262.
Web links
- Larry Semon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Larry Semon. walkoffame.com, accessed December 5, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Semon, Larry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Semon, Lawrence (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 16, 1889 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Point , Mississippi |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 8, 1928 |
| Place of death | near Victorville , California |