King Baggot
Encyclopedia
William King Baggot was an American actor
, director
and screenwriter
. He was an internationally famous movie star
of the silent era
. The first individually publicized
leading man
in America, Baggot was referred to as "King of the Movies," "The Most Photographed Man in the World" and "The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon."
Baggot appeared in at least 269 motion pictures
from 1909
to 1947
; wrote 18 screenplay
s; and directed 45 movies from 1912
to 1928
, including The Lie
(1912), Raffles
(1925
) and The House of Scandal (1928). He also directed William S. Hart
in his most famous western
, Tumbleweeds
(1925).
Among his movie appearances, he was best-known for The Scarlet Letter
(1911
), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(1913
), and Ivanhoe
(1913), which was filmed on location
in Wales
.
, the son of William Baggot (1845–1909) and Harriet M. "Hattie" King (1859–1933). His siblings were Amos Taylor Baggot (1881–1954); Thomas Gantt Baggot (1889–1979); John Marmaduke Baggot (1891–1975); Arthur Lee Baggot (1893–?); Marion L. Baggot (1896–1973); and Harriet D. Baggot (1899–1930).
His father was born in Ireland
, and emigrated
from County Limerick
to the United States
in 1852. He was a prominent St. Louis real estate agent
.
After graduating from high school, in 1894, King left St. Louis and went to Chicago
, where he worked as a clerk for his uncle, Edward Baggot (1839–1903), whose business sold plumbing, gas and electric fixtures. In 1899, he returned to St. Louis, and attended Christian Brothers College
, a prominent Catholic
school, where he excelled at sport
s, was a star soccer and baseball
player, and became captain of the soccer team.
He later played on a semi-professional
St. Louis soccer team and became so well known that a Catholic church amateur theatrical group added him to its cast to gain prestige. He liked acting
and did well. He soon helped found another amateur theatrical group, the Players Club of St. Louis.
In the meantime, he sold tickets for the St. Louis Browns
baseball team and worked as a clerk in the real estate business of his father. But acting proved so interesting that he decided to become professional.
in a Shakespearean
stock company
and toured throughout the U.S. Following his first engagement, he performed under the management of Liebler and Company, one of the foremost producing companies at that time. He also toured under the management of Frohman
, and the Shuberts
, and played five weeks in New York
in The Queen of the Highway. Other plays
in which he appeared include the comedy
revival Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, which had a run on Broadway in 1906, Salomy Jane and In the Bishop's Carriage
.
While acting in stock in St. Louis, in the summer of 1909, Baggot worked with Marguerite Clark
in Peter Pan
and The Golden Garter. In the two weeks that remained of the season, he played small roles in Frou Frou
and Jenny, which both starred Countess Venturini. When the season closed, he was cast as supporting player with Marguerite Clark in the Schubert touring production of The Wishing Ring
, which was adapted by Owen Davis
from a Dorothea Deakin story. Another cast member, Cecil B. DeMille
, also staged the play.
When The Wishing Ring closed in Chicago, Baggot returned to New York to join another company. Upon a chance meeting with Harry Solter
, who was directing movies for Carl Laemmle
at Independent Moving Pictures Company
(IMP), he was persuaded to go with Solter to the studio
. Movies were then looked down on by the dramatic profession as a mere recording of stunts, but Baggot went along. He was amused at the violent gestures and jumping around of the players, taking none of it seriously. Baggot, however, became interested in the fledgling industry and later decided to give it a try and turn picture player.
short
The Awakening of Bess (1909
) opposite Florence Lawrence
. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP
in Fort Lee, New Jersey
. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie star
s" to be given billing, a marquee
and promotion
in advertising
.
In April 1910, Baggot was at home with his mother and family in St. Louis, when the U.S. Census was taken there. He starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911
. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies opposite Mary Pickford
, who was hired to replace Lawrence after she and Solter broke their contracts, including the one-reel romance/drama
Sweet Memories
, which was directed by Thomas H. Ince
.
Baggot also began writing screenplay
s and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president.
On December 3, 1912, he and Ruth Considine (August 28, 1889–December 22, 1936) were married in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They had one son, Robert King Baggot (July 11, 1914–May 18, 1965). A cameraman
, he died in Hawaii
, while working on a movie. Robert King Baggot had two sons, cinematographer
Stephen King Baggot (born 1943) and Bruce Baggot (born 1947).
Baggot starred as Wilfred of Ivanhoe
in Ivanhoe
(1913
), a feature length
adventure
drama that was filmed on location
in England and at Chepstow Castle
in Wales. He played the role as Jean Dumas in the drama Absinthe (1914
), which was filmed in Paris
. In his 1914 two-reel movie Shadows, Baggot directed as well as played the parts of ten different characters.
When he registered for the draft of World War I
, on September 12, 1918, Baggot and his wife were living in New York City. He starred in the crime
/drama The Hawk's Trail
(1919
) opposite Grace Darmond
.
As a director, he gave Marie Prevost
her first starring role in the romantic comedy
Kissed (1922
). Baggot directed Mary Philbin
and William Haines
in the romance The Gaiety Girl
(1924
). He formed his own production company
, King Baggot Productions, and produced
and directed The Home Maker (1925
), a drama starring Clive Brook and Alice Joyce
about the reversal of traditional roles between a husband and wife, which was released through Universal
. That same year, Baggot directed William S. Hart
in his most famous western
, Tumbleweeds
, a drama about the Oklahoma land rush of 1893
.
His alcoholism
and problems with certain studio executives eventually ended Baggot's directing career. He turned to playing character roles
, bit part
s and even jobs as an extra
, and appeared in scores of movies in that capacity through the 1930s and 1940s, including Mississippi (1935).
Baggot played the uncredited role as a policeman on the street in The Bad Sister
(1931
), which starred Conrad Nagel
and Sidney Fox
, with Bette Davis
in her first movie role. He had the role as Henry Field, a movie director, in the Monogram Pictures
drama Police Court
(1932
) co-starring Henry B. Walthall
, which told the story of a has-been alcoholic actor (Walthall) trying to make a comeback. In 1933
, Baggot and former leading lady Florence Lawrence, Paul Panzer
and another former great star of the silent era, Francis Ford
, were given bit parts in what would be former co-star Mary Pickford's last movie, Secrets
.
In her Los Angeles Times
gossip column
on March 1, 1946, Hedda Hopper
wrote, "King Baggot, who used to be one of our top directors, is working as an extra in The Show-Off. While living at the Aberdeen Hotel in Venice, California
, Baggot made his final movie appearance in the uncredited part of a bank employee in the comedy My Brother Talks to Horses starring Butch Jenkins
and Peter Lawford
. Illness then forced his retirement.
King Baggot died at age 68 from a stroke
at a sanatorium
in Los Angeles. His funeral service was conducted in the chapel of Pierce Brothers Hollywood Mortuary at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 15, 1948. He is interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
. He has a star for his work in motion pictures on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard
, Hollywood
.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
. He was an internationally famous movie 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...
of the silent era
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...
. The first individually publicized
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people , goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one...
leading man
Leading man
Leading man or leading gentleman is an informal term for the actor who plays a love interest to the leading actress in a film or play. A leading man is usually an all rounder; capable of singing, dancing, and acting at a professional level, but never outshining his female co-star...
in America, Baggot was referred to as "King of the Movies," "The Most Photographed Man in the World" and "The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon."
Baggot appeared in at least 269 motion pictures
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...
from 1909
1909 in film
The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.*James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin....
to 1947
1947 in film
The year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten".*November 25...
; wrote 18 screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s; and directed 45 movies from 1912
1912 in film
The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios...
to 1928
1928 in film
-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...
, including The Lie
The Lie (1912 film)
The Lie is a silent war drama/romance motion picture short starring King Baggot and Lottie Briscoe.Directed by King Baggot and William Robert Daly and produced by Carl Laemmle's IMP Studios, the screenplay was written by A. Castlebaum.-Cast:...
(1912), Raffles
Raffles (1925 film)
Raffles is a feature length silent adventure crime/romance motion picture starring House Peters, Miss DuPont, Hedda Hopper, Fred Esmelton and Walter Long....
(1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
) and The House of Scandal (1928). He also directed William S. Hart
William S. Hart
William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
in his most famous western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweeds (1925 film)
Tumbleweeds is a 1925 American Western film starring and produced by William S. Hart. It depicts the Cherokee Strip land rush of 1893. The film is said to have influenced the Oscar-winning 1931 Western Cimarron, which also depicts the land rush...
(1925).
Among his movie appearances, he was best-known for The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter (1911 film)
The Scarlet Letter is a silent drama motion picture short starring King Baggot, Lucille Young, and William Robert Daly.Directed by Joseph W...
(1911
1911 in film
The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 23: D.W Griffith shows the first major close-up shot on film with the successful release of The Lonedale Operator proving his ever growing mastery of how to utilise film....
), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1913 horror film, directed by Herbert Brenon and Carl Laemmle, written by Brenon and produced by Laemmle. It is based on the Robert Louis Stevenson story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It stars King Baggot in the dual role of Jekyll and Hyde...
(1913
1913 in film
The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W...
), and Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (1913 U.S. film)
Ivanhoe is a 1913 silent adventure/drama motion picture starring King Baggot, Leah Baird, Herbert Brenon, Evelyn Hope, and Walter Craven.Directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures after IMP was absorbed into the newly founded Universal, which was the...
(1913), which was filmed on location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
in Wales
Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle , located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain...
.
Early life
He was born in St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, the son of William Baggot (1845–1909) and Harriet M. "Hattie" King (1859–1933). His siblings were Amos Taylor Baggot (1881–1954); Thomas Gantt Baggot (1889–1979); John Marmaduke Baggot (1891–1975); Arthur Lee Baggot (1893–?); Marion L. Baggot (1896–1973); and Harriet D. Baggot (1899–1930).
His father was born in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and emigrated
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
from County Limerick
County Limerick
It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1852. He was a prominent St. Louis real estate agent
Real estate broker
A real estate broker, real estate agent or realtor is a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate/real property and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy...
.
After graduating from high school, in 1894, King left St. Louis and went 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 worked as a clerk for his uncle, Edward Baggot (1839–1903), whose business sold plumbing, gas and electric fixtures. In 1899, he returned to St. Louis, and attended Christian Brothers College
Christian Brothers College High School
Christian Brothers College High School , is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in St. Louis, Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis and is owned and operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers Midwest District.-Early years :The school...
, a prominent Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
school, where he excelled at sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
s, was a star soccer and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player, and became captain of the soccer team.
He later played on a semi-professional
Semi-professional
A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional...
St. Louis soccer team and became so well known that a Catholic church amateur theatrical group added him to its cast to gain prestige. He liked acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
and did well. He soon helped found another amateur theatrical group, the Players Club of St. Louis.
In the meantime, he sold tickets for the St. Louis Browns
History of the St. Louis Cardinals
-Timeline of Nicknames:*Called St. Louis Brown Stockings in 1882*Called St. Louis Browns from 1883 to 1898*Called St. Louis Perfectos in 1899*Called St. Louis Cardinals from 1900 to present-Early years:...
baseball team and worked as a clerk in the real estate business of his father. But acting proved so interesting that he decided to become professional.
Stage career
Baggot began his career on the stageTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in a Shakespearean
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
stock company
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
and toured throughout the U.S. Following his first engagement, he performed under the management of Liebler and Company, one of the foremost producing companies at that time. He also toured under the management of Frohman
Frohman brothers
The Frohman brothers were important American Broadway theatre owners and theatrical producers who also owned and operated motion picture production companies.The brothers were:*Daniel Frohman *Gustave Frohman...
, and the Shuberts
The Shubert Organization
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of legitimate theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the Shubert brothers, Sam S. Shubert, Lee Shubert, and Jacob J. Shubert of Syracuse, New York in the late 19th century in upstate New York,...
, and played five weeks in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in The Queen of the Highway. Other plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
in which he appeared include the comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
revival Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, which had a run on Broadway in 1906, Salomy Jane and In the Bishop's Carriage
In the Bishop's Carriage
In the Bishop's Carriage is a 1913 silent film produced by Famous Players Film Company film company and starring Mary Pickford. It is based on a 1907 Broadway play In the Bishop's Carriage by Channing Pollock, the play itself based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Michelson. This film is lost...
.
While acting in stock in St. Louis, in the summer of 1909, Baggot worked with Marguerite Clark
Marguerite Clark
Marguerite Clark was an American stage and silent film actress.-Early life and theater:Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati...
in Peter Pan
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy, published in 1911, is the novelisation by J. M. Barrie of his most famous play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up...
and The Golden Garter. In the two weeks that remained of the season, he played small roles in Frou Frou
Frou Frou
Frou Frou was a British electronic duo composed of Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth. They released their only album, Details, in 2002. Both of them write, produce and play instruments on the tracks, while Heap also provides the vocals...
and Jenny, which both starred Countess Venturini. When the season closed, he was cast as supporting player with Marguerite Clark in the Schubert touring production of The Wishing Ring
The Wishing Ring
The Wishing Ring is a 1914 silent film directed by Maurice Tourneur. It's full title is The Wishing Ring: An Idyll of Old England. The film is based on a 1910 play by Owen Davis that starred Marguerite Clark. It was filmed at Fort Lee, New Jersey by the World Film Corporation. -Cast:*Vivian Martin...
, which was adapted by Owen Davis
Owen Davis
Owen Gould Davis, Sr. was an American dramatist. He received the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1923 play Icebound, and penned hundreds of plays and scripts for radio and film. Before the First World War, he also wrote racy sketches of New York high jinks and low life for the Police Gazette...
from a Dorothea Deakin story. Another cast member, Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
, also staged the play.
When The Wishing Ring closed in Chicago, Baggot returned to New York to join another company. Upon a chance meeting with Harry Solter
Harry Solter
Henry Lewis "Harry" Solter was an American silent film actor, screenwriter and director.-Career:Solter began his career as an actor in 1908 with Biograph Studios. That same year he met actress Florence Lawrence while making the film Romeo and Juliet for Vitagraph Studios and married on August 30...
, who was directing movies for Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle , born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal...
at Independent Moving Pictures Company
Independent Moving Pictures
The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a movie studio/production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, and was located at Eleventh Avenue and 53rd Street New York City, and in Fort Lee, New Jersey....
(IMP), he was persuaded to go with Solter to the studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
. Movies were then looked down on by the dramatic profession as a mere recording of stunts, but Baggot went along. He was amused at the violent gestures and jumping around of the players, taking none of it seriously. Baggot, however, became interested in the fledgling industry and later decided to give it a try and turn picture player.
Movie career
Baggot's first movie was the romanceRomance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
short
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
The Awakening of Bess (1909
1909 in film
The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.*James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin....
) opposite Florence Lawrence
Florence Lawrence
Florence Lawrence was a Canadian inventor and silent film actress. She is often referred to as "The First Movie Star." When she was popular, she was known as "The Biograph Girl," "The Imp Girl," and "The Girl of a Thousand Faces." Lawrence appeared in more than 270 films for various motion...
. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP
Independent Moving Pictures
The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a movie studio/production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, and was located at Eleventh Avenue and 53rd Street New York City, and in Fort Lee, New Jersey....
in Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie 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...
s" to be given billing, a marquee
Marquee (sign)
A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
and promotion
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
in advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
.
In April 1910, Baggot was at home with his mother and family in St. Louis, when the U.S. Census was taken there. He starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911
1911 in film
The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 23: D.W Griffith shows the first major close-up shot on film with the successful release of The Lonedale Operator proving his ever growing mastery of how to utilise film....
. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies opposite 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 was hired to replace Lawrence after she and Solter broke their contracts, including the one-reel romance/drama
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
Sweet Memories
Sweet Memories
Sweet Memories is a 1911 silent short romantic drama film, written and directed by Thomas H. Ince, released on March 27, 1911.-Plot:...
, which was directed by Thomas H. Ince
Thomas H. Ince
Thomas Harper Ince was an American silent film actor, director, screenwriter and producer of more than 100 films and pioneering studio mogul. Known as the "Father of the Western", he invented many mechanisms of professional movie production, introducing early Hollywood to the "assembly line"...
.
Baggot also began writing screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
s and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president.
On December 3, 1912, he and Ruth Considine (August 28, 1889–December 22, 1936) were married in Fort Lee, New Jersey. They had one son, Robert King Baggot (July 11, 1914–May 18, 1965). A cameraman
Camera operator
A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...
, he died in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, while working on a movie. Robert King Baggot had two sons, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
Stephen King Baggot (born 1943) and Bruce Baggot (born 1947).
Baggot starred as Wilfred of Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
in Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (1913 U.S. film)
Ivanhoe is a 1913 silent adventure/drama motion picture starring King Baggot, Leah Baird, Herbert Brenon, Evelyn Hope, and Walter Craven.Directed by Herbert Brenon and produced by Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures after IMP was absorbed into the newly founded Universal, which was the...
(1913
1913 in film
The year 1913 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* The Squaw Man, the first Hollywood feature film, is made.* December 29, Charlie Chaplin signs a contract with Mack Sennett to begin making films at Keystone Studios.* D. W...
), a feature length
Feature length
Feature length is motion picture terminology referring to the length of a feature film. According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a feature length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes to be eligible for an Academy Award.The term may also...
adventure
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
drama that was filmed on location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
in England and at Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle
Chepstow Castle , located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye, is the oldest surviving post-Roman stone fortification in Britain...
in Wales. He played the role as Jean Dumas in the drama Absinthe (1914
1914 in film
The year 1914 in film involved some significant events, including the debut of Cecil B. DeMille as a director.-Events:*The 3,300-seat Mark Strand Theatre opens in New York City....
), which was filmed in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In his 1914 two-reel movie Shadows, Baggot directed as well as played the parts of ten different characters.
When he registered for the draft of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, on September 12, 1918, Baggot and his wife were living in New York City. He starred in the crime
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
/drama The Hawk's Trail
The Hawk's Trail
The Hawk's Trail was a 1919 crime film serial directed by W. S. Van Dyke. The film is considered to be lost.-Cast:* King Baggot - Sheldon Steele / The Hawk* Grace Darmond - Claire Drake* Rhea Mitchell - Jean Drake...
(1919
1919 in film
The year 1919 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists...
) opposite Grace Darmond
Grace Darmond
Grace Darmond was an American actress from the early 20th century.-Early life:Grace Darmond was born Grace Glionna in Toronto on November 20, 1893. Her parents were James Glionna, a U.S.-born musician who had lived in Canada since 1877, and Alice Glionna, an Ontario native.-Career:Darmond was...
.
As a director, he gave Marie Prevost
Marie Prevost
Marie Prevost was a Canadian-born actress of the early days of cinema. During her twenty year career, she made 121 silent and talking pictures.-Early life:...
her first starring role in the romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
Kissed (1922
1922 in film
-Events:* June 11 - United States première of Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook of the North, the first commercially successful feature length documentary film....
). Baggot directed Mary Philbin
Mary Philbin
Mary Philbin was a notable film actress of the silent film era. Philbin is probably best remembered for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite screen legend Lon Chaney and Dea in The Man Who Laughs...
and William Haines
William Haines
Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...
in the romance The Gaiety Girl
The Gaiety Girl (film)
The Gaiety Girl is a 1924 romantic film directed by King Baggot.-Plot:William Tudor has a huge debt and is forced to give up his family castle. He sells it to war millionaire John Kershaw and goes to London to visit his granddaughter Irene. Meanwhile, Tudor's nephew and Irene's sweetheart Owen...
(1924
1924 in film
-Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
). He formed his own production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
, King Baggot Productions, and produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
and directed The Home Maker (1925
1925 in film
-Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
), a drama starring Clive Brook and Alice Joyce
Alice Joyce
Alice Joyce was an American actress, who appeared in more than 200 movies during the 1910s and 1920s, perhaps best known for her roles in the 1923 silent and 1930 talking versions of The Green Goddess....
about the reversal of traditional roles between a husband and wife, which was released through Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
. That same year, Baggot directed William S. Hart
William S. Hart
William Surrey Hart was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered for having "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity."-Biography:...
in his most famous western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
, Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweeds (1925 film)
Tumbleweeds is a 1925 American Western film starring and produced by William S. Hart. It depicts the Cherokee Strip land rush of 1893. The film is said to have influenced the Oscar-winning 1931 Western Cimarron, which also depicts the land rush...
, a drama about the Oklahoma land rush of 1893
Land run
Land run usually refers to an historical event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened for homesteading on a first arrival basis. Some newly opened lands were sold first-come, sold by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run...
.
Decline
Baggot and his wife, Ruth, who had separated on August 20, 1926, were divorced in 1930. She filed on grounds of desertion, stating in the complaint that he was a bad example to their son. She said he would return home after drinking and be in a boisterous mood. When the 1930 census was taken on April 7, Baggot was lodging by himself.His alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and problems with certain studio executives eventually ended Baggot's directing career. He turned to playing character roles
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
, bit part
Bit part
A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue . In British television, bit parts are referred to as under sixes...
s and even jobs as an extra
Extra (actor)
A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
, and appeared in scores of movies in that capacity through the 1930s and 1940s, including Mississippi (1935).
Baggot played the uncredited role as a policeman on the street in The Bad Sister
The Bad Sister
The Bad Sister is a 1931 American drama film directed by Hobart Henley. The screenplay by Edwin H. Knopf, Tom Reed, and Raymond L. Schrock is based on the 1913 novel The Flirt by Booth Tarkington, which previously was filmed in 1916 and 1922...
(1931
1931 in film
-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:*Best Picture: Cimarron - MGM*Best Actor: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul*Best Actor: Wallace Beery - The Champ*Best Actor: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...
), which starred Conrad Nagel
Conrad Nagel
Conrad Nagel was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.-Biography:...
and Sidney Fox
Sidney Fox
Sidney Fox was an American actress.-Career:Fox was born Sidney Leiffer in New York City in 1907 to a Jewish family. Her parents were wealthy until they went bankrupt and Sidney had to get a job as a teenager. She became a dressmaker, and spent her spare time studying law...
, with Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
in her first movie role. He had the role as Henry Field, a movie director, in the Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
drama Police Court
Police Court
Police Court is a 1932 American Monogram Pictures drama motion picture starring Henry B. Walthall, Leon Janney, Lionel Belmore, and King Baggot. Directed by Louis King and produced by I. E. Chadwick, the screenplay was adapted by Stuart Anthony from his story...
(1932
1932 in film
-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
) co-starring Henry B. Walthall
Henry B. Walthall
Henry Brazeale Walthall was an American film actor.-Career:Walthall began his career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway in a supporting role in William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide in 1906–1908. His career in movies began in 1908, in the film Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, which also...
, which told the story of a has-been alcoholic actor (Walthall) trying to make a comeback. In 1933
1933 in film
-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
, Baggot and former leading lady Florence Lawrence, Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in 333 films between 1905 and 1952. Panzer was best known for playing Koerner/Raymond Owen in The Perils of Pauline....
and another former great star of the silent era, Francis Ford
Francis Ford (actor)
Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...
, were given bit parts in what would be former co-star Mary Pickford's last movie, Secrets
Secrets (film)
Secrets is a 1933 Western film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Mary Pickford in her last film role. The film is a remake of Secrets , a silent film starring Norma Talmadge....
.
In her Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
gossip column
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
on March 1, 1946, Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper
Hedda Hopper was an American actress and gossip columnist, whose long-running feud with friend turned arch-rival Louella Parsons became at least as notorious as many of Hopper's columns.-Early life:...
wrote, "King Baggot, who used to be one of our top directors, is working as an extra in The Show-Off. While living at the Aberdeen Hotel in Venice, California
Venice, Los Angeles, California
Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors...
, Baggot made his final movie appearance in the uncredited part of a bank employee in the comedy My Brother Talks to Horses starring Butch Jenkins
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins was an American child actor, who had a brief film career during the 1940s.Born Jack Dudley Jenkins in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Doris Dudley, Jenkins made his film debut at the age of six in The Human Comedy as Jack Jenkins after an MGM talent scout saw...
and Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
. Illness then forced his retirement.
King Baggot died at age 68 from a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
at a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
in Los Angeles. His funeral service was conducted in the chapel of Pierce Brothers Hollywood Mortuary at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 15, 1948. He is interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...
. He has a star for his work in motion pictures on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
, Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
.
Books
- Dumaux, Sally A. (20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
). King Baggot: A Biography and Filmography of the First King of the Movies. McFarlandMcFarland & CompanyMcFarland & Company, Inc. is a book publisher of primarily academic and adult nonfiction based in Jefferson, North Carolina. Its president and editor-in-chief is Robert Franklin, who began the enterprise in 1979...
. 290 pp. ISBN 0-786-41350-6
External links
- King Baggot at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- King Baggot: A Biography and Filmography of the First King of the Movies at Google Book SearchGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...