Raymond Griffith
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 347.
Raymond Griffith (1895-1957) was an American silent movie comedian, known for films such as Paths to Paradise (1925) and Hands Up! (1926). In the sound era, he worked as production supervisor and associate producer.
Griffith, born in Boston, Mass., was raised in an actor's family and so he started acting on stage as a child. lost his voice at an early age, causing him to speak for the rest of his life in a hoarse whisper. Griffith claimed that it was the result of his having to scream at the top of his lungs every night in a stage melodrama as a child actor. Others have stated that a respiratory diphtheria had permanently damaged his vocal chords. Afterward, he worked in a circus, was dancer and dance teacher, toured Europe with French pantomime players and joined the US Navy for a while, before settling in California in 1914.
In 1915, he debut in film at the L-KO Kompany, where a played in countless comedies, switching to Mack Sennet's Keystone in 1916, where he remained for years, and at first worked mostly as gagman and scriptwriter. After interludes at Fox and Triangle, Griffith returned to Keystone in 1918. From 1918 he worked mainly in features. In 1921 he joined Marshall Neilan and the next year got a contract at Goldwyn Pictures, which eventually would merge into MGM. It was here that his career as star comedian began. As Jon Hopwood writes on IMDB: "During his Goldwyn period, Griffith created an acting style uniquely his own that was a hybrid of the comedic and the dramatic." At MGM he also played in dark tales such as The White Tiger (1923) by Tod Browning, in which he is searching for the murder of his father (Wallace Beery). In 1924 he moved to Paramount, where some of his best films were made, first of all Badger's Paths to Paradise (1925), a caper film that is in all circulating prints missing its final reel. It was highly praised when it came out and some predicted Chaplin a rival. But even more famous is Hands Up! (1926), a Civil War comedy feature directed by Clarence G. Badger, and co-starring Mack Swain, which was entered into the National Film Registry in 2005. In his 1975 book The Silent Clowns, Walter Kerr wrote about it: "'Hands Up!' contains some work that is daring -for its period, certainly -and some that is masterfully delicate, the work of an inventive, unaggressive, amiably iconoclastic intelligence." Like many silent comedians, Griffith had a traditional costume; his was a top hat, white tie and tails, often augmented by a cape and/or walking stick. Unfortunately, many of Griffith's starring feature films have long since been lost, or have not been re-released.
The coming of sound ended Griffith's acting career, but he did have one memorable role in a motion picture before retiring from the screen, playing a French soldier slowly dying in front of Lew Ayres's character in the 1930 Lewis Milestone film All Quiet on the Western Front. He then segued into a writing/producing career at Twentieth Century Fox. Griffith choked to death at the Masquers Club in Los Angeles, California, aged 62, on November 25, 1957. His asphyxia was due to partially masticated food. Griffith was married to stage and film actress Bertha Mann between 1928 and his death. They had one adopted daughter and two children of their own (one stillborn).
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German; actually, the German version gives much more information) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Raymond Griffith
French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 347.
Raymond Griffith (1895-1957) was an American silent movie comedian, known for films such as Paths to Paradise (1925) and Hands Up! (1926). In the sound era, he worked as production supervisor and associate producer.
Griffith, born in Boston, Mass., was raised in an actor's family and so he started acting on stage as a child. lost his voice at an early age, causing him to speak for the rest of his life in a hoarse whisper. Griffith claimed that it was the result of his having to scream at the top of his lungs every night in a stage melodrama as a child actor. Others have stated that a respiratory diphtheria had permanently damaged his vocal chords. Afterward, he worked in a circus, was dancer and dance teacher, toured Europe with French pantomime players and joined the US Navy for a while, before settling in California in 1914.
In 1915, he debut in film at the L-KO Kompany, where a played in countless comedies, switching to Mack Sennet's Keystone in 1916, where he remained for years, and at first worked mostly as gagman and scriptwriter. After interludes at Fox and Triangle, Griffith returned to Keystone in 1918. From 1918 he worked mainly in features. In 1921 he joined Marshall Neilan and the next year got a contract at Goldwyn Pictures, which eventually would merge into MGM. It was here that his career as star comedian began. As Jon Hopwood writes on IMDB: "During his Goldwyn period, Griffith created an acting style uniquely his own that was a hybrid of the comedic and the dramatic." At MGM he also played in dark tales such as The White Tiger (1923) by Tod Browning, in which he is searching for the murder of his father (Wallace Beery). In 1924 he moved to Paramount, where some of his best films were made, first of all Badger's Paths to Paradise (1925), a caper film that is in all circulating prints missing its final reel. It was highly praised when it came out and some predicted Chaplin a rival. But even more famous is Hands Up! (1926), a Civil War comedy feature directed by Clarence G. Badger, and co-starring Mack Swain, which was entered into the National Film Registry in 2005. In his 1975 book The Silent Clowns, Walter Kerr wrote about it: "'Hands Up!' contains some work that is daring -for its period, certainly -and some that is masterfully delicate, the work of an inventive, unaggressive, amiably iconoclastic intelligence." Like many silent comedians, Griffith had a traditional costume; his was a top hat, white tie and tails, often augmented by a cape and/or walking stick. Unfortunately, many of Griffith's starring feature films have long since been lost, or have not been re-released.
The coming of sound ended Griffith's acting career, but he did have one memorable role in a motion picture before retiring from the screen, playing a French soldier slowly dying in front of Lew Ayres's character in the 1930 Lewis Milestone film All Quiet on the Western Front. He then segued into a writing/producing career at Twentieth Century Fox. Griffith choked to death at the Masquers Club in Los Angeles, California, aged 62, on November 25, 1957. His asphyxia was due to partially masticated food. Griffith was married to stage and film actress Bertha Mann between 1928 and his death. They had one adopted daughter and two children of their own (one stillborn).
Sources: Wikipedia (English and German; actually, the German version gives much more information) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.