Please enjoy these Honorable Mentions – the very, very last of this series. **BEST enjoyed in landscape view, if you’re on a smartphone.
Chester A. Alexander
I found no pictures of Chester Alexander.
He was born in Piedmont Alabama, August 7, 1885. Alexander was an ordained minister. He played Deacon Simpkins in Body and Soul (1925). He died May 1, 1974 in Akron, Ohio.
Chester A. Bachman
His name is either Chester or Charles Bachman (or, perhaps both). He is listed in Wikipedia as Charles. I found his name elsewhere to be Chester.
He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia on July 12, 1882. He was a supporting character with mostly uncredited roles. He appeared in several Our Gang episodes. He died May 14, 1966 in Los Angeles, California.
William (W.B.F.) Crowell
I found no images of William Crowell.
He was born William Benjamin Franklin Crowell in Asheville, North Carolina on July 20, 1877. He “Served as Corporal, Company K, 3rd North Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Colored) in the Spanish-American War.” (IMDB) At one time, he was Vice President of Micheaux Film Corporation. In fact, he only acted in Micheaux’s films, from Beyond the Great Wall (1920), to The House Behind the Cedars (1927). William Crowell died of heat exhaustion July 30, 1929 in Roanoke, Virginia.
Rex De Rosselli
Rex De Rosselli was born in Kentucky on May 1, 1878. No birth city or county was listed in my source so he may not have been born in Appalachia but I counted him anyway, just in case. He was an actor and writer and played supporting “tough guy” roles in Westerns. He died July 21, 1941 in East Saint Louis, Illinois.
Joseph J. Dowling
He was born Joseph Johnson Dowling in Pittsburth, Pennsylvania on September 4, 1850. He performed in vaudeville and stage plays before acting in motion pictures. His roles were mainly supportive semi-authoritarian figures: captain, parson, father, colonel, count, etc. Joseph J. Dowling died July 8, 1928 in Hollywood, California.
Clyde Fillmore
Born Clyde Van Nuys Fogel in McConnelsville, Ohio on October 25, 1876. He often played good-looking scoundrels. He performed on stage before making movies. At one point, he grew tired of motion pictures and returned to Broadway to play more aristocratic roles. But he couldn’t stay away from motion pictures and returned. He died in Santa Monica, California on December 19, 1946.
J. Morris Foster
J. Morris Foster was born in Foxbert, Pennsylvania on September 9, 1881. He attended Stanford University, then began his theatre career in San Francisco in 1903. He worked in motion pictures for Edwin Thanhouser films. He opened a theatrical school in the early 1900s for a short time. He died on April 26, 1966 in Los Angeles, California.
Olin Francis
Olin Francis was born in Mooresville, Mississippi on September 13, 1891. He played supporting characters. He acted in almost twenty silent films, but the bulk of his career was in talking pictures. He died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on June 30, 1952.
Joseph W. Girard
He was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on April 2, 1871. Interestingly, Girard had a career as a printer before acting. A small article from the Evening Star Newspaper, Washington, dated June 16, 1929 says Girard learned printing from “various newspapers” and eventually co-owned a printing business in Philadelphia. When he was offered a “small part in a musical comedy,” he sold his share of the business and turned to acting. He died August 21, 1949 in Los Angeles, California.
James Gordon
James Gordon was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 23, 1871. He was a founding member of an acting group called “The Troupers.” He was also a Shakespearean stage actor. In motion pictures, he was both an actor and director. His filmography lists over 130 movies and 120 of those are silent films. He directed over a dozen films, as well. He died of surgery complications on May 12, 1941 in Hollywood, California.
Ralf Harolde
He was born Ralph Harold Wigger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 17, 1899. His first acting performance was on stage at sixteen years old. He served in the Marines during World War I and returned to theatre after his service ended. He eventually became a leading stage actor. He acted in a few silent films before gaining many roles in sound pictures. His characters ranged from “sleazebags, odious lounge lizards, convicts, junkies, stool pigeons and henchmen.” In 1937, he was in a car accident that killed his actor friend, Monroe Owsley. Harolde was so devastated, he took two years off from acting. He returned in 1939, but he was never really the same. He ended up acting in Poverty Row movies. He died of pneumonia on November 1, 1974 in Santa Monica, California.
Arthur Hohl
Arthur Hohl was born in Pittsburth, Pennsylvania on May 21, 1889. He was a Broadway stage actor before entering silent films in 1924. He transitioned well into talking pictures and became a versatile character actor (often played the villain). He died March 10, 1964 in Los Angeles, California.
Gladden James
Gladden James was born in Zanesville, Ohio on February 26, 1888. He has a considerable list of movies under his belt – over two-hundred, the bulk of which are in silent films. Once talking pictures dominated the movie business, James’ movie roles were almost all uncredited. Still, he performed in over one-hundred sound pictures. He died of leukemia on August 28, 1948 in Hollywood, California.
Walter James
Walter James was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on June 3, 1882. He was a graduate of Georgetown University. He was a stage actor before delving into motion pictures, where he usually played characters with authority: sheriffs, captains, presidents, mountaineers, etc. He died of a heart attack on June 27, 1946 in Gardena, California.
Darwin Karr
Darwin Karr was born in Almond, New York on July 25, 1875. His entire acting career was in silent films. He played supportive roles in a great many shorts. He died on December 31, 1945 in Los Angeles, California.
E. K. Lincoln
He was born Edward Kline Lincoln (one source spells his middle name “Klink”) in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on August 8, 1884. In addition to acting, Lincoln was an independent movie producer with his own studio, “The Grantwood Movie Studio.” He initially produced his own films but loaned out the area to bigger studios like Fox. After the advent of talking pictures, the studio was “used to make foreign language films.” The business continued until the late 1930s. E. K. Lincoln died on January 9, 1958 in Los Angeles, California.
Alec Lovejoy
I found no images of Alec Lovejoy.
He was born Alexander L. Lovejoy in Gaston, Alabama on April 28, 1893. His first movie (and only silent film) was Birthright (1924), directed by Oscar Micheaux. Lovejoy performed in at least four other Micheaux films. Alec Lovejoy died in Los Angeles, California on April 13, 1946.
Charles Emmett Mack
He was born Charles Stewert McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 25, 1895. He grew up in a coal camp. One source says he looks an awful lot like Jack Pickford (I don’t see it, really.). Mack was a “charming and loveable” person who played solid supporting characters. He was killed in a car crash on March 17, 1927 in Riverside, California. Ironically, he was filming The First Auto (1927) at the time. He left behind a wife, Marianne Lovera, an adopted daughter (around eleven years old) and a son about two.
Wilbur Mack
He was born in Binghamton, New York on July 29, 1873. An article I found states he almost chose shoemaker as a profession over acting. I think that statement is really stretching the truth. He worked at the Endicott and Johnson shoe factory for one whole day. His first thirty years in acting were spent in vaudeville and on stage. His motion picture and (later) television roles were mostly small and/or uncredited. He played quite a few villains in westerns. Wilbur Mack died March 13, 1964.
Ward McAllister
I found no images of Ward McAllister (the actor). While doing research, I found a lawyer with the same name, but he was born in the early 19th century. Ward McAllister (the actor) was born in Apollo, Pennsylvania on October 17, 1891. He began acting in theatre and was a member of the Gilmore Brown Players. He had a fairly brief motion picture career, around four years, and played supporting characters in over twenty shorts or films. He died of a stroke on February 16, 1981 in Norwalk, Ohio.
Burr McIntosh
He was born William Burr McIntosh in Wellsville, Ohio on August 12, 1862. His father was president of the utility, gas, and coal department. McIntosh attended Lafayette College. He had a very successful career on Broadway. He ventured into motion pictures and in his first role, he played Jo Vernon in the silent film In Mizzoura (1914). McIntosh made a successful transition into “talkies,” though he mostly acted in silent movies. Later in his career, he “devoted himself to charitable causes.” He spent his time well and was quite busy. He was publisher of the “Burr McIntosh Monthly” magazine. He owned a film production company. He was an author and a reporter. He was a “pioneering radio actor.” By all accounts, he was quite the jovial fellow. Burr McIntosh died of a heart attack on April 28, 1942 in Hollywood, California. His tombstone is engraved with his nickname: The Cheerful Philosopher.
Charles Meredith
He was born Charles Howard Meredith in Knoxville, Pennsylvania on August 27, 1894. In the 1920s, he was considered one of the handsomest actors in silent film. He left motion pictures in 1924 to pursue a career on stage. He returned a little less than twenty years later and played small roles in sound pictures and television until his death on November 28, 1964 in Los Angeles, California.
Frank Montgomery
He was born Frank Edward Akley in Petrolia, Pennsylvania. He loved the entertainment business from a very young age, and even “travelled with a circus in the summer and with theatrical companies in the winter, frequently conducting vaudeville” shows. He claimed he built the first permanent theatre with soley moving pictures (much like our movie theatres today) called “Edison’s Family Theatre.” He subsequently formed and managed the Mongomery Amusement Company, which placed “high grade photoplay houses,” in strategic places throughout the Eastern United States. The first of these venues was in Memphis, Tennessee. By providing better locales for moviegoers, he became known as “‘the motion picture man,’ or ‘Montgomery, the moving picture man.'” Montgomery also directed over 120 short films and acted in around thirty. When talking pictures cornered the movie market, he became Hal Roach Studio’s sound technician. Frank Montgomery died on July 18, 1944 in Hollywood, California.
G. Raymond Nye
G. Raymond Nye was born in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania on April 13, 1889. He performed in acting road companies and vaudeville before he chose a career in moving pictures with American studios in 1914. He played villainous characters in “low-budget melodramas.” When sound replaced silent movies, he was reduced to playing extras and uncredited roles. G. Raymond Nye died July 23, 1965 in Los Angeles, California.
Charles Stanton Ogle
Charles Stanton Ogle was born a minister’s son in Steubenville, Ohio on June 5, 1865. He was a very multitalented character actor on stage and in moving pictures with over three hundred film roles. His first moving picture was The Boston Tea Party (1908). He played the first Frankenstein’s monster in Thomas Edison‘s Frankenstein (1910). Charles Stanton Ogle died in Long Beach, California on October 11, 1940.
Grady Sutton
Grady Sutton was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 5, 1906. He had several jobs besides acting: usher, doorman, possible hotel manager, and real estate agent. He was disappointed at being rejected by the Army for having “a bad stomach” during World War II so, he bolstered the war effort by working at Lockheed. He discovered he wanted to be an actor after he went on vacation with a friend (whose brother was a film director) in California. Sutton moved to the state in 1924 and pursued his film career. He acted mostly in talking pictures, though he did have roles in a handful of silent film. He also acted in a few television episodes and commercials. W. C. Fields really liked Sutton’s work and cast him in several films. He often played the “blank-looking country bumpkin.” Moviegoers found that his Southern Appalachian drawl made him appear like a “gentle soul.” Grady Sutton died of natural causes on September 17, 1995 in Woodland Hills, California.
Kenneth Thomson
He was born Charles Kenneth Thomson in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 7, 1899. He began his acting career on Broadway but left to pursue moving pictures, a career he began in 1927 with Cecil B. De Mille. Thomson and his wife, Alden Gay were two of “the twenty-one founding members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He is listed on the SAG website as being the “sole member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.” Kenneth Thomson died from emphysema on January 26, 1967 in Hollywood, California.
Harry Todd
He was born John Nelson Todd in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1863. He began his motion picture career in 1913 at Essanay Studios. He acted in comedies (in the genre and in Westerns). His comedic style “was described as a pixieish, clod-kicking type.” Harry Todd died of a heart attack on February 15, 1935 in Glendale, California.
Charles West
Charles West was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 30, 1885. For most of his career, he was a silent film actor who played supporting roles and sometimes small parts, extras, or uncredited. A great portion of his roles were in films with Mary Pickford. He died October 10, 1943 in Los Angeles, California.
Larry Wheat
He was born Lawrence Wheat in Wheeling, West Virginia on October 2, 1876. The bulk of his acting career was in talking pictures. He did act in a little over a dozen silent films. Most of his roles were small parts, extras, or uncredited. He died August 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, California.
Robert Williams
Robert Williams was born in Morganton, North Carolina on September 15, 1894. His family were farmers. He was described as “A North Carolina backwoods boy.” He ran away from home when he was eleven years old to “join a tent show.” He entertained on Mississippi river boats and on tours around the Midwest. He moved to New York and performed on Broadway during the 1920s. He acted in two or three silent films, but he made his big break as Stew Smith in Platinum Blonde (1931). This film would, sadly, be his last. While he rehearsed for his next film, Lady with a Past (1932), “he complained of stomach pains. After a day or two the pain worsened” and he “was rushed to a hospital for an appendicitis operation.” His appendix burst while the operation was being performed. He lingered for days before he died on November 3, 1931 in Glendale, California.
**Featured Image Source: Article, “This year’s Oscar statues were cast from 3D-printed scans of the 1929 originals” By Chloe Olewitz – Digital Trends website – altered black and white from original