Richard Leslie was an actor in theater and then Vitagraph short comedy films from 1912 to 1916. He was listed among Vitagraph's "Prominent Personages" in 1915 newspaper advertorial. [1] He wrote that he worked for a tea company before become interested in theater.
He wrote in 1916 in a Motion Picture Classic illustrated article that he was born 33 years prior in Liverpool, England and became make-up manager for the Vitagraph Company. He described himself as Vitagraph's official "drunk, parson, and butler. [2] He reportedly made up 738 people for Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg and 500 for The Little Minister . He wrote about the difference between makeup for staged performances and film. He also discussed the use of color on film sets and makeup to achieve affects. He recommended the eyes of Irish brunettes for their luminosity, which he stated could not be recreated on film with makeup. [3]
Actress Gladys Leslie was his sister. [4]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1912 | The Valet | |||
Doctor Bridget | ||||
It All Came Out in the Wash | Valet | |||
1913 | The Golf Game and the Bonnet | [5] | ||
The Sale of a Heart | ||||
Matrimonial Manoeuvres | ||||
He Fell in Love with His Mother-in-Law | ||||
Those Troublesome Tresses | ||||
When the Press Speaks | William | |||
The Intruder | Valet | [6] : 136 | ||
Gilbert Gray's Valet | ||||
Dr. Crathern's Experiment | ||||
The Drop of Blood | [ citation needed ] | |||
The Fortune | as Third Jokester[ failed verification ] | [6] : 158 | ||
The House in Suburbia | Gerald Brooks | |||
The Mouse and the Lion | Jack | |||
Beau Brummel | Lord Beaconsfield | credited as Dick Leslie | ||
The Skull | ||||
What a Change of Clothes Did | ||||
The Butler | ||||
1914 | The Little Minister | McKenzie - Friend of Rintoul | ||
An Instructor | ||||
Our Fairy Play | ||||
The Village Cutup | ||||
The Adventure of the Rival Undertakers | John | |||
The Old Fire Horse and the New Fire Chief | ||||
The Tattoo Mark | Steve Brogan | |||
Her Great Scoop | Dick Perkins | |||
The Misadventures of a Mighty Monarch | ||||
Bunny's Little Brother | ||||
1915 | The Conquest of Constantia | Teddy | credited as Dick Leslie Jr. | |
Lillian's Husbands | ||||
The Mystery of Mary | ||||
Elsa's Brother | [7] | |||
When Greek Meets Greek | ||||
Breaking In | ||||
Mother's Roses | Perkins the Butler | |||
1916 | Autumn | [ citation needed ] |
Essanay Studios, officially the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago by George Kirke Spoor and Gilbert M. Anderson, originally as the Peerless Film Manufacturing Company, then as Essanay on August 10, 1907. Essanay is probably best known today for its series of Charlie Chaplin comedies produced in 1915-1916. In late 1916, it merged distribution with other studios and stopped issuing films in the fall of 1918. According to film historian Steve Massa, Essanay is one of the important early studios, with comedies as a particular strength. Founders Spoor and Anderson were subsequently awarded special Academy Awards for pioneering contributions to film.
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros. in 1925.
William Wallace Halleck Reid was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver.
The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark.
Clara Kimball Young was an American film actress who was popular in the early silent film era.
Gladys Hulette was an American silent film actress from Arcade, New York, United States. Her career began in the early years of silent movies and continued until the mid-1930s. She first performed on stage at the age of three and on screen when she was seven years old. Hulette was also a talented artist. Her mother was an opera star.
Gladys Leslie Moore was an American actress in silent film, active in the 1910s and 1920s. Though less-remembered than superstars like Mary Pickford, she had a number of starring roles from 1917 to the early 1920s and was one of the young female stars of her day.
William J. Bowman was an American stage and film actor, writer, and director noted for his work in the early 1900s on silent productions for studios in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, and in Los Angeles during the first decade of filmmaking in and around Hollywood. His direction of a series of films with matinee idol Francis X. Bushman in 1915 and his direction of the serials The Invisible Hand in 1920 and The Avenging Arrow in 1921 form only a small part of Bowman's extensive filmography.
The Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser. It operated until 1920. It produced over 1,000 films, but several dozen of the films were of small filler subjects, educational or documentaries. Many of these smaller subjects were listed as a quarter or half a reel in length and received very little critical review or analysis by film critics and the media.
Jane Eyre is a 1910 American silent short classic drama produced by the Thanhouser Film Corporation. Adapted from Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, the film mirrors the events and plot of the original book. The writer of the scenario is unknown, but Lloyd Lonergan probably adapted the work. The film's director is often and erroneously claimed to be Theodore Marston, but Barry O'Neil or Lloyd B. Carleton are possible candidates. The cast of the film was credited, an act rare and unusual in the era.
The Best Man Wins is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film features Thanhouser's leading players Anna Rosemond, Martin Faust, Frank H. Crane and Marie Eline in a drama about morality. Two suitors are vying for the hand of Julia Seaton and propose to her on the same day, but she asks for a month to decide between them. In the time, the caliber of both men are tested when asked by a young girl, named May, to help her dying mother. The doctor refuses to help, and the lawyer offers his assistance, but her mother soon dies. The orphan is taken in by the Seaton family and personally attests to the character of both men when Julia Seaton has to choose between her suitors.
James Kyrle MacCurdy, born James Kyrle McCurdy was a theater actor and playwright. He married actress Kate Woods Fiske and lived in Brentwood, New York. In 1907 he wrote Yankee Doodle Detective. He wrote the 1915 play A Little Girl in the Big City that was made into the 1925 silent film A Little Girl in a Big City. He also wrote the 1917 play Broken Hearts of Broadway that was made into the 1923 silent film Broken Hearts of Broadway produced and directed by Irving Cummings and starring Colleen Moore. He also wrote the Old Clothes Man 1918. He also wrote and performed in Pedro, the Italian.
Edgar Jones was an American actor, producer, writer, and director of silent films. He starred in and directed the film adaptation of The Gold in the Crock. He also starred in and directed Siegmund Lubin films including Fitzhugh's Ride. He established a film production business in Augusta, Maine that produced original stories and adaptations of Holman Day novels.
Barry O'Neil was a film director and writer. His real name was Thomas J. McCarthy. He directed several Thanhouser films including the production company's first two-reeler, Romeo and Juliet. He went on to work for Lubin and then World Film Corporation.
C. C. Field Film Company, also known as Field's Feature Film Company, was a short-lived film studio company in Miami, Florida. Construction of a studio for the company at South Miami Avenue at 25th Street began in 1915. It was headed by Charles C. Field who also established the Prismatic Film Company, its predecessor. Field relocated to Hollywood before returning to Florida in 1916. His partner took over and soon after the company ceased operations having produced only a few films. The studio building was later used by Tilford's studio.
Thomas R. Mills(1878-1953), billed as Tom Mills, was an actor and director of silent films. He was a theater actor until he joined Vitagraph to make films.
Earl Triplett Montgomery was a film director, writer, and comedian who performed in silent films including as the character Hairbreadth Harry. He established the producing company Earl Montgomery Comedy Company. Joe Rock partnered with him at Vitagraph.
Albert W. Hale was a French-born American early film director and producer. He directed some 35 films from 1912 until 1915. He worked for Majestic Film Company studio, and the National Film Corporation.
Robert Broderick was an American actor in silent films and "light opera". He starred in Arizona.
Louise Emerald Bates was an American actress whose photo was covered in the 1915 issue of Motion Picture Classic. Born in Massachusetts, U.S, she left the stage and theater productions, where she starred in musical comedies, for Thanhouser's Falstaff comedies produced at its New Rochelle studio. She was a female lead in Falstaff comedies. In 1916 she worked at Thanhouser's studio in Jacksonville, Florida. where the Falstaff crew relocated. In 1916, actor Harris Gordon was noted as her husband. She married Edmund Mortimer and became Louise Bates Mortimer.