J. Stuart Blackton

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Biography

J. Stuart Blackton came to the US with his family from Sheffield, England, in 1885 at age 10, settling in New York. He became friends with 'Albert E. Smith' in 1900. Blackton acted in some productions but his main focus was in directing. He eventually left that field and became supervisor of all of the company's productions. He left the company in 1917 to go into independent production. He also worked as a director for hire for many studios, but did a lot of work for Warner Bros. He died in a car accident in California in 1941.

Movies

Books

Trivia

Father with Isabelle Mabel MacArthur of Marian Constance Blackton and J. Stuart Blackton Jr. ; father with Paula Blackton of Violet Virginia Blackton and Charles Stuart Blackton.

Discovered Victor McLaglen in London and took him to Hollywood.

Former President of the Motion Picture Board of Trade

He was the first actor to portray Frederick Opper s comic strip character, Happy Hooligan.

Died in 1941 in Los Angeles several days after he was hit by a bus while crossing a street. He had long since lost whatever money he made during his salad days in the silent era, and died penniless. A friend from those days, director William P.S. Earle , bought a plot in Forest Lawn Cemetery and had Blacktons ashes interred there.

With Albert E. Smith and William T. Rock , formed the pioneering film production company Vitagraph Company of America.

Quotes

[about the early days of the motion picture industry] Picture making can,hardly be said to have developed. The art itself is an evolution--its,branches developed. Everything was so absolutely new that the first,producers had to evolve their own standards. .

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