Maurice Costello

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Maurice Costello (before 1916)

Maurice Costello (born February 22, 1877 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † October 28, 1950 in Hollywood , California ) was an American actor and silent film director.

life and career

Maurice Costello was the son of Irish immigrants and appeared in local vaudeville theaters at the age of 17 , having previously worked as a delivery boy. He became a well-known actor around the turn of the century. Like many theater actors of his time, Costello initially looked down on the film business rather disparagingly, but since he had a family to support, he finally turned to the lucrative film business as one of the first well-known Broadway actors. In 1905 he made his first films for the Edison Studios of Thomas Alva Edison . Through the short film Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, made in the same year ; or, Held for Ransom , Costello is today the first actor known by name to portray Sherlock Holmes in a film (the names of actors from even earlier Holmes films can no longer be determined today). In 1907 he moved from Edison to Studio Vitagraph , where he took on numerous prominent leading roles in literary adaptations: Antonius in Antonius und Cleopatra (1908), Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909), Jean Valjean in Die Elenden (1909) and Sydney Carton in Eine Story from two cities (1911). He also played Jesus of Nazareth in a 1911 film .

Maurice Costello was one of the first film actors whose name gained prominence with audiences and who insisted that his name be featured in the opening credits, which was unusual at the time. In a newspaper poll in 1912, he was voted one of the most popular film actors, and a theater on Broadway was named after him. A newspaper article from the period even wrote: "Without the slightest doubt the most popular male star in cinema worldwide". The wealthy and sought-after Costello, however, was overwhelmed by the stardom - he received countless marriage proposals from female fans - and increasingly suffered from alcohol problems. There was a scandal when it was revealed that he had beaten his wife Mae while drunk, for which he later apologized. Mae then left him with their two children - Dolores Costello and Helene Costello , both of whom later became film stars themselves. The relationship with his daughters was therefore usually difficult. Dolores later married the film and theater star John Barrymore , making actress Drew Barrymore a great-granddaughter of Maurice Costello.

From 1913 Costello also worked as a film director, by 1915 he had made 80 short films, while at the same time still working as a celebrated actor. Due to his professional stress, he suffered a nervous breakdown in 1915, which had to be treated for a long time and which made him visibly older. The following year he returned to film in a highly anticipated comeback , but he could no longer build on his old successes: Costello had previously played mostly roles as an attractive lover, but with graying hair he only received offers for supporting roles . When he switched to talkies , Costello was practically unemployed in 1929. It was not until the mid-1930s that the actor, who had fallen into oblivion, received engagements for film appearances again, but until his last film in 1945 these were only minor roles, in Citizen Kane by Orson Welles he even only worked as an extra . Completely penniless, he had to sue his estranged daughters in a court case for financial support at the end of the 1930s. Costello spent his final years at the Motion Picture and Television Country House , a retirement home for filmmakers. He died in 1950 at the age of 73 of complications from heart disease. In one of his last interviews, Costello said of his deep fall from movie star to extras:

"Oh, well it's better to be a has-been than a never-was."
"Well, it's better to have been someone before than never to have been someone."

A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is dedicated to Maurice Costello for his film work .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Maurice Costello  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maurice Costello - First Matinee Idol. In: The Pittsburgh Press , February 2, 1931, accessed November 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ Christopher P. Jacobs, Donald McCaffrey: Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema . Greenwood, 1999, ISBN 978-0-313-30345-6 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ^ Maurice Costello at Rotten Tomatoes .
  4. ↑ a b c Maurice Costello. In: findagrave.com , accessed November 30, 2015.
  5. ^ A b Maurice Costello Returns to the Screen. In: The Pittsburgh Press , June 4, 1916, accessed November 30, 2015.
  6. ^ A b Maurice Costello, Matinee Idol of Early Days, Dies. In: The Daytona Beach News-Journal , October 30, 1950, accessed November 30, 2015.
  7. ^ A b Maurice Costello. In: The Los Angeles Times , accessed November 30, 2015.
  8. ↑ 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 2: C - F. John Paddy Carstairs - Peter Fritz. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 176.
  9. ↑ Biography at the Internet Movie Database . Retrieved November 30, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Costello, Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1950
Place of death Hollywood , California