Harry Benham was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 silent film

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...

 actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Background

Born in Valparaiso, Indiana

Valparaiso, Indiana

Valparaiso is a city in and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 31,730 at the 2010 census, making it the 2nd largest city in Porter County.-History:...

, as a child Benham and his family moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where he was raised and attended school. Benham had a talent for singing and sang in his local church choir.

In 1904, the production Peggy From Paris came to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and, at age 20, Benham became a member of the chorus

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 while earning a living in the wholesale paper business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

.

Benham was soon selected to play the leading role in the production and remained in that role throughout the production's three-year run. He was subsequently able to garner more roles in other plays, such as The Sultan of Sulu, Woodland, Marrying Mary, The Gay Musician,
H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...

, Florodora

Florodora

Florodora is an Edwardian musical comedy and became one of the first successful Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens, and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones...

, The Mayoress, and Madame Sherry.

In 1910 Benham joined the Thanhouser Company

Thanhouser Company

The Thanhouser Company was one of the first motion picture studios, founded in 1909 by Edwin Thanhouser.-See also:...

, for whom he played the leading role in many of the company's films through 1915. It was after this period that he met actress Ethyle Cooke

Ethyle Cooke

Ethyle Cooke , was an American silent film actress of the 1910s. In 1915, she married another prominent silent film actor of the time, Harry Benham. Ethyle starred in many popular movies, such as A Small Town Girl, Stronger than Death, and The Fugitive.-Background:Ethyle Cooke was born in Lynn,...

 and married her; together they had two children, Dorothy and Leland, who also became prominent Thanhouser personalities.

Benham died on July 17, 1969 in Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...

, aged 85.

An article about his role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912) appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland (October 1963).

1910s

• The Old Curiosity Shop (1911)
• The Mummy (1911)
• The Regimental Ball (1911)
• Get Rich Quick (1911) .... Undetermined Role
• The Rescue of Mr. Henpeck (1911) .... Mr. Henpeck
• The Smuggler (1911) .... The Secret Service Man
• David Copperfield (1911)
• The Satyr and the Lady (1911) .... The Artist
• Their Burglar (1911) .... Jack
• The Missing Heir (1911) .... The Policeman
• The Lady from the Sea (1911)
• The Tomboy (1911) .... The Guardian
• Cinderella (1911) .... The Prince
• She (1911)
• The Expert's Report (1911) .... The Oil Expert
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912 film)
  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1912 horror film based on both Robert Louis Stevenson's novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and on the play version of Thomas Russell Sullivan. Directed by Lucius Henderson, the film stars actor James Cruze as the dual role of Jekyll/Hyde.-Plot...
  
  (1912) (uncredited) .... Mr. Hyde (some scenes)
• Her Ladyship's Page (1912)
• East Lynne (1912)
• The Poacher (1912) .... The Poacher
• Nicholas Nickleby (1912) .... Nicholas Nickleby
• An Easy Mark (1912) .... The Crook
• The Baby Bride (1912) .... The Bachelor
• Dora Thorne (1912) .... Lord Rowland
• Jilted (1912) .... The Fiancé
• Her Secret (1912) .... The Loyal Sister's Husband
• Why Tom Signed the Pledge (1912) .... Tom, the Deacon's Son
• In Blossom Time (1912)
• The Professor's Son (1912) .... The Professor
• Out of the Dark (1912)
• Under Two Flags (1912/I)
• The Finger of Scorn (1912) .... The Drummer
• The Portrait of Lady Anne (1912) .... Lady Anne's Suitor in 1912
• The Merchant of Venice (1912) .... Bassanio
• Big Sister (1912)
• The Wrecked Taxi (1912)
• When a Count Counted (1912) .... The Young Law Clerk, Her Sweetheart
• Letters of a Lifetime (1912) .... The Brother
• The Warning (1912) .... The Father
• Miss Robinson Crusoe (1912) .... The American
• Dotty, the Dancer (1912) .... Mademoiselle Cleo
• In a Garden (1912) .... The Quarrel Maker
• The Ladder of Life (1912) .... The Poor Man, as an Adult
• A Noise Like a Fortune (1912) .... The Young Farmer
• In Time of Peril (1912) .... The Engineer
• Miss Taku of Tokyo (1912) .... Jack, the Son
• The Forest Rose (1912)
• A Romance of the U.S.N. (1912) .... The Sailor
• At Liberty—Good Press Agent (1912) .... The Press Agent
• Aurora Floyd (1912) .... John Mellish, Aurora's Second Husband
• Brains vs. Brawn (1912) .... Brawn/The Young Athlete
• The Repeater (1912) .... Jack, the Repeater
• The Star of Bethlehem (1912) .... Angel Gabriel
• The Boomerang (1913/III) .... The Father
• Sherlock Holmes Solves the Sign of the Four (1913) .... Sherlock Holmes
• Just a Shabby Doll (1913) .... The Husband
• King René's Daughter (1913)
• Little Dorrit (1913)
• The Girl of the Cabaret (1913)
• The Medium's Nemesis (1913)
• Robin Hood (1913) .... Alan-a-Dale
• Moths (1913) .... Correze
• The Children's Hour (1913)
• He Couldn't Lose (1913)
• Baby's Joy Ride (1913)
• A Clothes-Line Quarrel (1913)
• What Might Have Been (1913)
• A Beauty Parlor Graduate (1913)
• An Orphan's Romance (1913)
• Pamela Congreve (1914)
• Frou Frou (1914) .... Henri de Sartorys
• Their Golden Wedding (1914)
• The Runaway Princess (1914)
• Coals of Fire (1914)
• Her Love Letters (1914)
• The Elevator Man (1914)
• The Success of Selfishness (1914)
• The Golden Cross (1914)
• The Scientist's Doll (1914)
• The Miser's Reversion (1914)
• When Sorrow Fades (1914)
• Repentance (1914)
• The Musician's Daughter (1914)
• The Infant Heart Snatcher (1914)
• A Woman's Loyalty (1914)
• Was She Right in Forgiving Him? (1914)
• Rivalry (1914)
• The Girl Across the Hall (1914)
• The Man Without Fear (1914)
• The Harlow Handicap (1914) .... Harry Allen
• Harry's Waterloo (1914)
• Stronger Than Death (1914)
• Gold (1914)
• The Mettle of a Man (1914)
• The Harvest of Regrets (1914)
• The Trail of the Love-Lorn (1914)
• The Rescue (1914/I)
• Zudora (1914) .... John Storm
• Mrs. Van Ruyter's Stratagem (1914)
• Graft vs. Love (1915)
• The Heart of the Princess Marsari (1915)
• Daughter of Kings (1915)
• The Girl of the Sea (1915)
• A Freight Car Honeymoon (1915)
• The Country Girl (1915/I) .... Belville, Phyllis' Lover
• Madame Blanche, Beauty Doctor (1915) .... Bob; Madame Blanche
• His Two Patients (1915) .... The Doctor
• When the Fleet Sailed (1915)
• When Hungry Hamlet Fled (1915)
• Helen's Babies (1915)
• The Scoop at Bellville (1915)
• The Man Inside (1916) .... Hunter
• The Path of Happiness (1916) .... Merrill Day, the Intruder
• The Doll Doctor (1916)
• Mignonette (1916)
• Held for Damages (1916)
• Through Flames to Love (1916)
• The Capital Prize (1916)
• Her Wonderful Secret (1916)
• A College Boomerang (1916)
• The Heart Wrecker (1916)
• Peggy and the Law (1916)
• The Clever Mrs. Carter (1916)
• The Little Grey Mouse (1916) .... Jack Stanley
• Love's Masquerade (1916)
• The Angel of the Attic (1916)
• The Girl Who Didn't Tell (1916)
• The Mischief Maker (1916) .... Al Tourney
• Pamela's Past (1916)
• Toto of the Byways (1916)
• Souls United (1917)
• When Thieves Fall Out (1917)
• The Dancer's Peril (1917) .... Richard Moraino
• The Warfare of the Flesh (1917) .... Frank Gregory
• When You and I Were Young (1917) .... Artist
• The Last of the Carnabys (1917) .... Johnn Rand
• Putting the Bee in Herbert (1917) .... Herbert Macklin
• The Outsider (1917) .... Donald Lyttleton
• The Victim (1917) .... Undetermined Role
• Convict 993 (1918) .... Rodney Travers
• Cecilia of the Pink Roses (1918) .... Harry Twombly
• The Love Craze (1918)

1920s

• The Prey (1920)
• For Love or Money (1920) .... John T. Hamilton
• The Dangerous Paradise (1920) .... Norman Kent
• Polly with a Past (1920) .... Clay Cullum
• Hush Money (1921) .... Bishop Deems
• The Road to Arcady (1922) .... John T. Hamilton
• Your Best Friend (1922) .... Robert Meyers
• The Town That Forgot God (1922) .... Harry Adams

External links