Eric Campbell (actor)
Encyclopedia
Alfred Eric Campbell was an English actor who for many years was wrongly believed to be Scottish.
A silent
era star
, he acted in 11 of Charlie Chaplin
's movies
playing a big intimidating bully. Campbell began acting in "fit-ups" (local theatres) in Scotland
and Wales
, playing melodramatic roles. In this setting he was 'discovered' by Fred Karno
, the English
impresario who, impressed by Campbell's size and baritone
voice, took him to London
and to act in the slapstick
comedy style for which Campbell became famous.
Campbell went to New York in 1914, following Chaplin and his then understudy Stan Laurel
, who had moved there in 1913. Campbell soon became established in America as a stage actor. In 1916 Chaplin, in New York to sign his contract with Mutual
, saw Campbell in a play on Broadway
. Subsequently, Chaplin invited him to Hollywood to join the cast of actors for the 12 Mutual films Chaplin had contracted to make.
Campbell's first film with Chaplin was The Floorwalker
(1916). In it he achieved recognition for the "escalator
scene," in which he chased Chaplin through a department store
. It was in their second film together, The Fireman
(1916), that Campbell developed the role which featured in all his work with Chaplin. A tall man towering 6 ft. 5 in.(1.98 m.) and weighing almost 300 pounds (136 kg), he became the bully and comic foil to the Little Tramp's antics. His best role is probably in Easy Street
(1917), in which, as a brutal bully, he bends a cast-iron street lamp standard to a right angle to intimidate the policeman played by Chaplin.
Chaplin was then the most famous film star in the world with many imitators. Campbell also had imitators, including Oliver Hardy
who played second banana to Chaplin's impersonator, Billy West.
When Chaplin's contract with Mutual ended, he signed another with First National
, intending to take Campbell with him. Between films, Chaplin lent Campbell to Mary Pickford
, who cast him in Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
(1918). He was on the verge of becoming a worldwide star as filming began. But at the same time that he was becoming famous, his personal life was beset by tragedy and scandal.
On 9 July 1917, his wife died suddenly of a heart attack after dinner at a Santa Monica restaurant near their home. Walking to a nearby store to buy a mourning dress, his 16-year-old daughter Una was hit by a car and seriously injured. Still mourning, at a 12 September party given for Artcraft Studio publicity man Pete Schmid, Campbell met Pearl Gilman, a diminutive vaudeville comedienne with a family reputation for gold-digging. She had been married to candy heir Charles W. Alisky in 1912, and a few years later divorced and married another wealthy man, Theodore Arnreiter. Her sister Mabelle was married to elderly steel magnate William E. Corey, the owner of U.S. Steel. Just five days after they met, Campbell and Gilman Alisky-Arnreiter were married at the home of Elaine Hardy at 824 5th Street in Santa Monica. His daughter Una, still recuperating at a friend's home in Santa Monica Canyon, was not told of the wedding for several weeks. Less than two months after marrying the gentle giant, Gilman Alisky-Arnreiter sued him for divorce, claiming he abused her with his heavy drinking and profanity. He moved out of their Santa Monica bungalow and into the Los Angeles Athletic Club, taking a room next to his best friend Chaplin. At a cast party, Campbell got drunk and driving home at 4 am crashed the car and was killed.
Campbell's ashes remained unclaimed for over 30 years until laid to rest at an unknown site at Rosedale Cemetery.
The 1996 documentary, Chaplin's Goliath: In Search of Scotland's Forgotten Star, written and directed by Kevin MacDonald, explored Campbell's life and work, and is the source for much of the above material. During the making of the film, a plaque commemorating Campbell was placed at Rosedale Cemetery and another was added to the Castle House Museum at Castle Gardens, Dunoon.
Una Campbell, the actor's only child, returned to the UK to live with relatives in Nottingham after her father died.
A silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
, he acted in 11 of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
playing a big intimidating bully. Campbell began acting in "fit-ups" (local theatres) in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, playing melodramatic roles. In this setting he was 'discovered' by Fred Karno
Fred Karno
Frederick John Westcott , best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was a theatre impresario of the British music hall. Karno is credited with inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. Among the young comedians who worked for him were Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Jefferson, who later adopted the...
, the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
impresario who, impressed by Campbell's size and baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
voice, took him to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and to act in the slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy style for which Campbell became famous.
Campbell went to New York in 1914, following Chaplin and his then understudy Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
, who had moved there in 1913. Campbell soon became established in America as a stage actor. In 1916 Chaplin, in New York to sign his contract with Mutual
Mutual Film
Mutual Film Corporation was an early American motion picture conglomerate best remembered today as the producers of some of Charlie Chaplin's greatest comedies....
, saw Campbell in a play on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. Subsequently, Chaplin invited him to Hollywood to join the cast of actors for the 12 Mutual films Chaplin had contracted to make.
Campbell's first film with Chaplin was The Floorwalker
The Floorwalker
The Floorwalker was Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film, made in 1916. It stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadvertently entangled in the nefarious scheme of the store manager, played by Eric...
(1916). In it he achieved recognition for the "escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
scene," in which he chased Chaplin through a department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
. It was in their second film together, The Fireman
The Fireman (film)
The Fireman is the second film Charlie Chaplin created for Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and Edna Purviance as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon....
(1916), that Campbell developed the role which featured in all his work with Chaplin. A tall man towering 6 ft. 5 in.(1.98 m.) and weighing almost 300 pounds (136 kg), he became the bully and comic foil to the Little Tramp's antics. His best role is probably in Easy Street
Easy Street (film)
Easy Street is a 1917 short comedy film by Charlie Chaplin.In the film, the police are failing to maintain law and order and so it is Chaplin, as the Little Tramp character, who steps forward to rid the street of bullies, help the poor, save women from madmen and generally keep the peace.-Plot:As...
(1917), in which, as a brutal bully, he bends a cast-iron street lamp standard to a right angle to intimidate the policeman played by Chaplin.
Chaplin was then the most famous film star in the world with many imitators. Campbell also had imitators, including Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...
who played second banana to Chaplin's impersonator, Billy West.
When Chaplin's contract with Mutual ended, he signed another with First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
, intending to take Campbell with him. Between films, Chaplin lent Campbell to Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, who cast him in Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 silent film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on a Belle K. Maniates novel.-Plot:...
(1918). He was on the verge of becoming a worldwide star as filming began. But at the same time that he was becoming famous, his personal life was beset by tragedy and scandal.
On 9 July 1917, his wife died suddenly of a heart attack after dinner at a Santa Monica restaurant near their home. Walking to a nearby store to buy a mourning dress, his 16-year-old daughter Una was hit by a car and seriously injured. Still mourning, at a 12 September party given for Artcraft Studio publicity man Pete Schmid, Campbell met Pearl Gilman, a diminutive vaudeville comedienne with a family reputation for gold-digging. She had been married to candy heir Charles W. Alisky in 1912, and a few years later divorced and married another wealthy man, Theodore Arnreiter. Her sister Mabelle was married to elderly steel magnate William E. Corey, the owner of U.S. Steel. Just five days after they met, Campbell and Gilman Alisky-Arnreiter were married at the home of Elaine Hardy at 824 5th Street in Santa Monica. His daughter Una, still recuperating at a friend's home in Santa Monica Canyon, was not told of the wedding for several weeks. Less than two months after marrying the gentle giant, Gilman Alisky-Arnreiter sued him for divorce, claiming he abused her with his heavy drinking and profanity. He moved out of their Santa Monica bungalow and into the Los Angeles Athletic Club, taking a room next to his best friend Chaplin. At a cast party, Campbell got drunk and driving home at 4 am crashed the car and was killed.
Campbell's ashes remained unclaimed for over 30 years until laid to rest at an unknown site at Rosedale Cemetery.
The 1996 documentary, Chaplin's Goliath: In Search of Scotland's Forgotten Star, written and directed by Kevin MacDonald, explored Campbell's life and work, and is the source for much of the above material. During the making of the film, a plaque commemorating Campbell was placed at Rosedale Cemetery and another was added to the Castle House Museum at Castle Gardens, Dunoon.
Una Campbell, the actor's only child, returned to the UK to live with relatives in Nottingham after her father died.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 | The Floorwalker The Floorwalker The Floorwalker was Charlie Chaplin's first Mutual Film Corporation film, made in 1916. It stars Chaplin, in his traditional Tramp persona, as a customer who creates chaos in a department store and becomes inadvertently entangled in the nefarious scheme of the store manager, played by Eric... |
Store manager | |
| The Fireman The Fireman (film) The Fireman is the second film Charlie Chaplin created for Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on June 12, it starred Chaplin as the fireman and Edna Purviance as the daughter to Lloyd Bacon.... |
Foreman of the Brigade | ||
| The Vagabond The Vagabond The Vagabond is a silent film by Charlie Chaplin and his third film with Mutual Films. Released to theaters on July 10, 1916, it co-starred Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Leo White and Lloyd Bacon... |
Gypsy Chieftain | ||
| The Count The Count (film) The Count is Charlie Chaplin's fifth film for Mutual Film Corporation in 1916. Released on September 4, it co-starred Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance.-Synopsis:... |
A Tailor | ||
| The Pawnshop The Pawnshop The Pawnshop was Charlie Chaplin's sixth film for Mutual Film Corporation. Released on October 2, 1916, it stars Chaplin in the role of assistant to the pawnshop owner, played by Henry Bergman... |
Burglar | ||
| Behind the Screen Behind the Screen Behind the Screen is a 1916 short silent film written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and also starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. The film takes place in a movie studio; Chaplin plays a stagehand named David while Campbell, a large man, plays Goliath, his supervisor... |
Goliath (a stagehand) | ||
| The Rink | Mr. Stout, Edna's Admirer | ||
| 1917 | Easy Street Easy Street (film) Easy Street is a 1917 short comedy film by Charlie Chaplin.In the film, the police are failing to maintain law and order and so it is Chaplin, as the Little Tramp character, who steps forward to rid the street of bullies, help the poor, save women from madmen and generally keep the peace.-Plot:As... |
The Bully | |
| The Cure | Baca | ||
| The Immigrant The Immigrant The Immigrant is a 1917 American comedy short film starring the Charlie Chaplin Tramp character as an immigrant coming to the United States who is accused of theft on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, and befriends a young woman along the way... |
The head waiter | ||
| The Adventurer The Adventurer (film) The Adventurer is a short comedy film made in 1917 written and directed by Charlie Chaplin. It is the last out of the twelve films made while he was under contract for the Mutual Film Corporation.- Plot and characters :... |
The Suitor | ||