Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director, producer, and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City.
Frank William George Lloyd was a British-born American film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its president from 1934 to 1935.
Francis Winter Boggs was an American stage actor and pioneer silent film director. He was one of the first to direct a film in Hollywood.
Jesse Louis Lasky was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures, and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
Charles Eyton was an actor-producer who became general manager of Famous Players-Lasky Corporation during the silent film era.
Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer.
Cleo Ridgely-Horne was a star of silent and sound motion pictures. Her career began early in the silent film era, in 1911, and continued for forty years. She retired in the 1930s but later returned to make more movies. Her final film was Hollywood Story (1951), in which she had a bit part.
Colin Chase was an American silent film actor.
William C. Dowlan was an American stage performer and a film actor and director during the silent era. Most of his directorial projects were done in collaboration with his wife, screenwriter Leonora Ainsworth. Between 1915 and 1917 he and Ainsworth did extensive work together for Universal Film Manufacturing Company in Los Angeles and for the American Film Company at its facilities in Santa Barbara.
The Captive is an American silent-era film released on April 22, 1915. It was released on five reels. The film was written, directed, edited, and produced by Cecil B. DeMille. Jesse L. Lasky was another producer and Jeanie MacPherson worked with DeMille to write the screenplay. The film is based on a play written by Cecil B. DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson. The Captive grossed over $56,000 on a budget of $12,154. Blanche Sweet stars as Sonia Martinovich, alongside House Peters who stars as Mahmud Hassan. The film details the romantic war-era plight of Sonia and her lover Mahmud.
Carmen is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film is based on the novella Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. The existing versions of this film appear to be from the re-edited 1918 re-release.
Bessie Eyton was an American actress of the silent era. Eyton appeared in 200 films between 1911 and 1925. From 1911 to 1918, the period when the majority of her films were made, she was under contract to Selig Polyscope Company.
Charles Gardner Sullivan was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was a prolific writer with more than 350 films among his credits. In 1924, the magazine Story World selected him on a list of the ten individuals who had contributed the most to the advancement of the motion picture industry from its inception forward. Four of Sullivan's films, The Italian (1915), Civilization (1916), Hell's Hinges (1916), and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), have been listed in the National Film Registry.
Oliver Morosco was an American theatrical producer, director, writer, film producer, and theater owner. He owned the Morosco Photoplay Company. He brought many of his theater actors to the screen. Frank A. Garbutt was in charge of the film business. The company was merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players-Lasky Corporation in 1916.
Providencia Ranch, part of Providencia Land and Water Development Company property named for the Rancho Providencia Mexican land grant, was a property in California, US. It was used as a filming location for the American Civil War battle scenes in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and other silent motion pictures. The valley was also the site for two Universal Studios west coast operations in 1914.
Homer A. Scott was a founding member of the American Society of Cinematographers (A.S.C.) and was their president from 1925-1926. He was also a member and director of its predecessor organization, The Static Club of America.
The Morosco Photoplay Company was created in 1914 by Frank Garbutt. It was named for Oliver Morosco. In 1916, it was acquired by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and became a subsidiary. Charles Eyton was appointed to supervise the company's productions.
Kay-Bee Pictures, or Kessel and Baumann, was an American silent film studio, and part of the New York Motion Picture Company. The company's mottos included, "every picture a headliner" and "Kay-Bee stands for Kessel and Baumann and Kessel and Baumann stands for quality", referring to Adam Kessel and Charles Baumann. It was party of the New York Motion Picture Company and was used after a settlement with rival Universal Pictures to end the film division named 101 Bison. Anna Little was one of its stars. Its executives included Thomas Ince.
Astra Film Corp was an American film production company that produced silent films. Louis J. Gasnier was the company's president. George B. Seitz co-founded it. It was making films by 1916. It became Louis J. Gasnier Productions after Seitz left.
Rex Motion Picture Company was an early film production company in the United States.
