Charles Emmett Mack | |
|---|---|
 Mack in Motion Picture Classic, 1926 | |
| Born | Charles Stewert McNerney November 25, 1900 Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 17, 1927 (aged 26) Riverside, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Marion Mack (??-1927, his death) |
Charles Emmett Mack (November 25, 1900 – March 17, 1927), was an American film actor during the silent film era. He appeared in seventeen films between 1916 and 1927. He died in a car accident.
Born Charles Emmett McNerney in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to an Irish family, at a young age Mack could speak three or four languages. One of Mack's early jobs was as a peanut vendor at the Ringling Brothers Circus. After that, he appeared in vaudeville, specializing in buck-and-wing dancing. Later he became a tour guide for D.W. Griffith's Mamaroneck Studios. After that he was Griffith's prop man, fetching all sorts of props for the director.
One day, Griffith invited Mack to rehearse a scene from Dream Street with him. Mack enjoyed the part he had and thought Griffith was friendly. He ended up playing the lead. [1]
The first time I saw myself on the screen I thought I couldn't stand it. We were all in the projection room looking at the rushes of my first day's work. I couldn't think of the shadow on the screen as myself—I thought of it as "It." I saw this thing sneak in. It had such big ears and such a strange nose. Its mouth seemed to be all over its face. And then suddenly it turned around on me and I bolted out of the room. Mr. Griffith sent for me and had me sit by him while he showed me what was wrong and why. I thought it all terrible, but he seemed to think it good, and so I kept on acting instead of going back to the property room.
— Charles Emmett Mack, Prop Boy to Star, Motion Picture Classic [1]
While filming America in 1924, a soldier's arm was blown off. As Mack recalls, "Neil Hamilton and I went to neighboring towns and raised a fund for him—I doing a song and dance and Neil collecting a coin." [2]
After signing with Warner Brothers, Mack was killed when the car he was driving collided with another and overturned on his way to a racetrack in Riverside, California to film an auto racing scene for the film The First Auto (1927). He was 26 years old. [3]
Mack was survived by his wife, Marion Mack and her twelve-year-old adopted daughter and three-year-old son. [4] She was born in Italy and came to the United States when she was three. A 1929 issue of Picture-Play revealed that it was anticipated that she would perhaps become a leading actress, but it doesn't seem her career ever went past bit parts. She is not to be confused with the other Marion Mack. [5]
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