Maurice Costello | |
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Born | Maurice George Costello February 22, 1877 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Died | October 29, 1950 73) Hollywood, California, U.S. | (aged
Burial place | Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles |
Occupation(s) | actor, director, screenwriter |
Years active | 1905–1945 |
Spouse(s) | Ruth Reeves (m. 1939;div. 1941) |
Children | Dolores Costello Helene Costello |
Maurice George Costello (February 22, 1877 – October 29, 1950) [1] was a prominent American vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s who later played a principal role in early American films as leading man, supporting player, and director.
Costello was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Irish immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). His father Thomas died while repairing a blast furnace at Andrew Carnegie's Union Iron Mill when Maurice was just five months old. He had a strongly Irish upbringing, living with his mother, her Irish brother, and many Irish immigrant boarders. [2]
Costello made his film debut in 1908, but was long believed to have debuted in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom (1905), supposedly playing the lead in what is regarded as the first serious film to feature the character of Sherlock Holmes, since it was preceded only by the 30-second comedy film Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900). However, Holmesian scholar Leslie S. Klinger has written that the identification of Costello in the role is flawed. [3] Klinger states that the first identification of Costello with the role was in Michael Pointer's Public Life of Sherlock Holmes published in 1975 but Pointer later realized his error and wrote to Klinger stating
"I am now aware that Maurice Costello could not have been in that film, as he had not joined the Vitagraph company by that date. I'm sorry that my book has been misleading, but I doubt that I shall have the opportunity for an amended reprint, and should not have the time to prepare one anyway." [3]
Costello joined Vitagraph, being a member of the first motion picture stock company ever formed, playing opposite Florence Turner. Among some of his best known pictures are A Tale of Two Cities, The Man Who Couldn't Beat God and For the Honor of the Family. Costello was notorious for his refusal to help build sets, insisting that he was "hired as an actor and nothing else", despite the common practice of the time. From this and his role as the creator of the first known school of screen acting, Costello is sometimes credited as "the father of screen acting". [4]
Costello was one of the world's first leading men in early American cinema, but like a lot of other silent screen stars, he found the transition to "talkies" extremely difficult. While his leading man status was largely lost, Costello continued to appear in movies, often in small roles and bit parts, right up until his death in 1950.
Maurice Costello also discovered Moe Howard of the Three Stooges, who, as a teenager, ran errands and got lunches for the actors at the Vitagraph Studios at no charge. This impressed Costello who brought him in and introduced him to other leading actors of the day. Moe then gained small parts in many of the Vitagraph movies but most of these were destroyed by fire that swept the studios in 1910.
Costello was married to actress Mae Costello (née Altschuk). On November 23, 1913, Costello was arrested for beating his wife Mae. On November 25, 1913, Costello admitted that he had beaten his wife while intoxicated. Mae Costello requested that the charges be dropped to disorderly conduct, and Costello was given six months probation by Magistrate Geisner of the Coney Island Police Court. [5]
Costello died at the age of 73 in 1950 in Los Angeles, California of a heart problem [6] and was interred at Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, a Catholic cemetery.[ citation needed ]
His descendants include two daughters, actresses Dolores Costello and Helene Costello, a grandson John Drew Barrymore, and a great granddaughter Drew Barrymore.[ citation needed ]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1908 | Antony and Cleopatra | Marc Antony | Short |
1909 | The Bride of Lammermoor | Edgar Ravenswood | Short |
1909 | Les Misérables | Jean Valjean | Short |
1909 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander | Short |
1911 | A Tale of Two Cities | Sydney Carton | Short |
1911 | His Sister's Children | Harry Burton | Short |
1911 | Some Good in All | Bill | Short |
1912 | As You Like It | Orlando | |
1912 | The Adventure of the Italian Model | Lambert Chase | [7] [8] |
1912 | The Adventure of a Thumb Print | Lambert Chase | [7] [8] |
1912 | The Mystery of the Seven Jewels | Lambert Chase | [7] [8] |
1913 | A Princess of Bagdad | Seyn – the Cobbler | |
1914 | Mr. Barnes of New York | Mr. Barnes | |
1915 | The Man Who Couldn't Beat God | Martin Henchford | also co-directed |
1915 | The Crown Prince's Double | Prince Oscar / Barry Lawrence | |
1916 | The Crimson Stain Mystery | Harold Stanley | |
1919 | The Captain's Captain | John Sark | |
1919 | The Cambric Mask | John Sark | |
1919 | The Man Who Won | Henry Longfield | |
1919 | The Girl-Woman | Sanford | |
1920 | Human Collateral | Richard Morton | |
1920 | Deadline at Eleven | Paul Klocke | |
1920 | The Tower of Jewels | Fraser Grimstead | |
1921 | Conceit | Barbe la Fleche | |
1922 | Determination | Putnam | |
1923 | None So Blind | Russell Mortimer | |
1923 | The Glimpses of the Moon | Fred Gillow | |
1923 | Man and Wife | Caleb Perkins | |
1923 | Fog Bound | Deputy Brown | |
1924 | Let Not Man Put Asunder | Sir Humphrey | |
1924 | Roulette | Ben Corcoran | |
1924 | Week End Husbands | John Keane | |
1924 | Virtuous Liars | Josiah Wright | |
1924 | Love of Women | Mr. Redfield | |
1924 | Heart of Alaska | ||
1924 | The Story Without a Name | The Cripple | |
1924 | The Law and the Lady | Cyrus Blake | |
1925 | The Mad Marriage | ||
1926 | The Wives of the Prophet | William Neil | |
1926 | The Last Alarm | Fireman's father | |
1926 | The False Alarm | ||
1926 | Camille | Armand's father | |
1927 | Johnny Get Your Hair Cut | Baxter Ryan | |
1927 | Wolves of the Air | Bob's Father | |
1927 | The Shamrock and the Rose | Father O'Brien | |
1927 | Spider Webs | Jeffrey Stanton | |
1928 | See You Later | ||
1928 | The Wagon Show | Colonel Beldan | |
1928 | Black Feather | ||
1928 | Eagle of the Night | ||
1934 | Search for Beauty | Health Acres Guest | Uncredited |
1936 | Hollywood Boulevard | Director in Commissary | |
1938 | I Am the Law | Lindsay Staff Member | Uncredited |
1938 | A Man to Remember | Town Councilor | Uncredited |
1938 | Comet Over Broadway | Actor at Dress Rehearsal | Uncredited |
1938 | There's That Woman Again | Headwaiter | Uncredited |
1939 | Disbarred | Frightened Juror | Uncredited |
1939 | It's a Wonderful World | Guest | Uncredited |
1939 | Judge Hardy and Son | Man in Audience | Uncredited |
1939 | Five Little Peppers and How They Grew | Hart | Uncredited |
1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Diggs – Newsman | Uncredited |
1939 | The Roaring Twenties | Nightclub Patron | Uncredited |
1940 | Rovin' Tumbleweeds | Ways and Means Committee Member | Uncredited |
1940 | The Ghost Comes Home | Townsman at Banquet | Uncredited |
1940 | Johnny Apollo | Extra | Uncredited |
1940 | Edison, the Man | Broker | Uncredited |
1940 | The Sea Hawk | Man Carrying Spear | Uncredited |
1940 | All This, and Heaven Too | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1940 | Foreign Correspondent | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1940 | A Little Bit of Heaven | Uncle Louie | |
1940 | Third Finger, Left Hand | Man at Railroad Station | Uncredited |
1940 | Tin Pan Alley | Uncredited | |
1941 | A Man Betrayed | Club Inferno Patron | UNcredited |
1941 | Lady from Louisiana | Edwards | |
1941 | Citizen Kane | Extra | Uncredited |
1941 | Here Comes Mr. Jordan | Ringsider at Fight | Uncredited |
1941 | H.M. Pulham, Esq. | Wedding Guest | Uncredited |
1942 | Ride 'Em Cowboy | Rodeo Spectator with Martin Manning | Uncredited |
1942 | Reap the Wild Wind | Ball Guest | Uncredited |
1942 | Cairo | Cavity Rock Townsman | Uncredited |
1942 | The Glass Key | Card Player | Uncredited |
1942 | Henry Aldrich, Editor | Fire Spectator | Uncredited |
1943 | Du Barry Was a Lady | Passerby | Uncredited |
1943 | Sweet Rosie O'Grady | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1944 | A Fig Leaf for Eve | Nightclub Patron | Uncredited |
1944 | The Doughgirls | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1944 | The Climax | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1944 | Practically Yours | Senate Stenographer | Uncredited |
1945 | Guest Wife | Bit Part | Uncredited, (final film role) |
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
John Barrymore was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel the following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of Justice (1916), Richard III (1920) and Hamlet (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian".
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre". She received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning for None but the Lonely Heart (1944).
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, first published on 14 October 1892. It contains the earliest short stories featuring the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, which had been published in twelve monthly issues of The Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. The stories are collected in the same sequence, which is not supported by any fictional chronology. The only characters common to all twelve are Holmes and Dr. Watson and all are related in first-person narrative from Watson's point of view.
Dolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen" by her first husband, the actor John Barrymore. She was the mother of John Drew Barrymore.
Tom Conway was a British film, television, and radio actor remembered for playing private detectives and psychiatrists, among other roles.
Helene Costello was an American stage and film actress, most notably of the silent era.
A Tale of Two Cities is a 1911 silent film produced by Vitagraph Studios, loosely based on the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens.
The stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television. The four volumes of the Universal Sherlock Holmes (1995) compiled by Ronald B. De Waal lists over 25,000 Holmes-related productions and products. They include the original writings, "together with the translations of these tales into sixty-three languages, plus Braille and shorthand, the writings about the Writings or higher criticism, writings about Sherlockians and their societies, memorials and memorabilia, games, puzzles and quizzes, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, compact discs, laser discs, ballets, films, musicals, operettas, oratorios, plays, radio and television programs, parodies and pastiches, children's books, cartoons, comics, and a multitude of other items — from advertisements to wine — that have accumulated throughout the world on the two most famous characters in literature."
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace is a 1962 mystery film directed by Terence Fisher. It is a West German-French-Italian international co-production. The film starred Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes and Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson. Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay, based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sherlock Holmes Baffled is a very short American silent film created in 1900 with cinematography by Arthur Marvin. It is the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes, albeit in a form unlike that of later screen incarnations. The inclusion of the character also makes it the first recorded detective film. In the film, a thief who can appear and disappear at will steals a sack of items from Sherlock Holmes. At each point, Holmes's attempts to thwart the intruder end in failure.
Mae Costello was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth-century.
Harry Temple Morey was an American stage and motion picture actor who appeared in nearly 200 films during his career.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom is a 1905 American silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph Studios. It was the second film based on Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, following the 1900 Mutoscope trick film Sherlock Holmes Baffled, and is usually regarded as the first attempt to film a "serious" Holmes adaptation. The scenario was by Theodore Liebler based on elements of Conan Doyle's 1890 novel The Sign of the Four.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1921 British silent mystery film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Eille Norwood, Catina Campbell and Rex McDougall. It is based on the 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was made by Stoll Pictures, Britain's largest film company at the time. It was the first British film adaptation of the famous novel.
From 1921 to 1923, Stoll Pictures produced three series of silent black-and-white films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Forty-five short films and two feature-length films were produced featuring Eille Norwood in the role of Holmes and Hubert Willis cast as Dr. Watson with the exception of the final film, The Sign of Four, where Willis was replaced with Arthur Cullin. Consequently, Norwood holds the record for most appearances as Sherlock Holmes in film.
The Hound of London is a television film directed by Peter Reynolds-Long and starring Patrick Macnee as Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes.
Mary Charleson was an Irish silent film actress who starred in about 80 films in the U.S. between 1912 and 1920.
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