Willam C. deMille (July 25, 1878 – March 5, 1955) was an American screenwriter and film director from the silent movie era through the early 1930s. He was also a noted playwright prior to moving into film. Once he was established in film he specialized in adapting Broadway plays into silent films.

DeMille was born in Washington, North Carolina, to Henry Churchill deMille (1853–1893), an Episcopal lay minister and playwright from North Carolina, and Matilda Beatrice Samuel (1853–1923), who was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in England but converted to her husband's faith. He was the elder brother of the versatile Cecil B. DeMille, who altered the punctuation of his last name when he went to Hollywood, claiming that it fit better on marquees. (William continued to be known as "deMille," while his daughter Agnes chose "de Mille.") William received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University followed by graduate studies at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, at schools in Germany, and a second stint at Columbia studying under Brander Matthews.

Gloria Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the Best Actress category. She had also produced her own films such as the controversial Sadie Thompson and The Love of Sunya. In 1929, Swanson successfully transitioned to talkies with The Trespasser.

However, personal problems and changing tastes saw her popularity wane during the 1930s when she moved into theater and television. Today she is best known for her role as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film star, in the critically acclaimed film Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Gloria Josephine May Swanson was born in a small house in Chicago, Illinois in 1899 to Adelaide (née Klanowski) and Joseph Theodore Swanson, a soldier. She attended Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. Her father was from a strict Lutheran Swedish American family, and her mother was of German, French, and Polish ancestry.

Thomas Meighan (April 9, 1879 – July 8, 1936) was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading man roles opposite popular actresses of the day including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. At one point he commanded $10,000 a week.

Meighan was born to John and Mary Meighan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was the president of Pittsburgh Facing Mills and his family was well off.

Meighan's parents encouraged him to go to college but he refused. At the age of 15 his father sent him to work shoveling coal which quickly changed his mind. He attended St. Mary's College studying pharmacology. After 3 years of study Meighan decided he wished to pursue acting.

After dropping out of college in 1896 Meighan became a juvenile player in the Pittsburgh Stock Company headed by Henrietta Crosman. He was paid $35 a week.

Meighan soon found success. He first appeared on Broadway in 1900. In 1904 Meighan appeared in "The Two Orphans". His breakthrough role came in 1908 appeared with William Collier Sr. in "The Dictator". which led to a leading role in "The College Widow" which had a successful run on Broadway for the 1907–1908 season. It was during this run he met his wife Frances Ring.

Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 - March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer.

She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals like 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain. In a long career, Bebe Daniels made over 230 films.

Daniels was born Phyllis Virginia Daniels (Bebe was a childhood nickname) in Dallas, Texas. Her father was a theater manager and her mother a stage actress. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in her childhood and she began her acting career at the age of four in the first version of The Squaw Man. That same year she also went on tour in a stage production of Shakespeare's Richard III. The following year she participated in productions by Morosooa and David Belasco.

By the age of seven Daniels had her first starring role in film as the young heroine in A Common Enemy. At the age of nine she starred as Dorothy Gale in the 1910 short film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. At the age of fourteen she starred opposite film comedian Harold Lloyd in a series of Lonesome Luke two-reel comedies starting with the 1915 film Giving Them Fits. The two eventually developed a publicized romantic relationship and were known in Hollywood as "The Boy" and "The Girl."

Sessue Hayakawa (早川 雪洲, Hayakawa Sesshū^?, June 10, 1889 – November 23, 1973) was a Japanese and American Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. Active at the beginning of the American film industry, Hayakawa was the first and remains one of the few Asian actors to find stardom in the United States and Europe. His brooding good looks and typecasting as a sinister villain with sexual dominance made him a heartthrob among American women and the first male sex symbol of Hollywood before Rudolf Valentino. In his time Hayakawa was as well known and popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks although today his name is mostly unknown to the general public.

His popularity, sex appeal and extravagant lifestyle (such as hosting wild parties and driving a gold-plated Pierce-Arrow) caused tension within American society resulting in discriminatory stereotypes and the de-sexualizing of Asian men in cinema, as exemplified by the controversial I.Y. Yunioshi. Refusing to adopt negative stereotypes he decided to leave Hollywood and moved into European cinema where he was treated equally, as would his female counterpart Anna May Wong. Hayakawa's friendship with fellow actors would see him return to Hollywood once again, although to this day few Asian actors have ever had the chance to play a respectable lead role in an American film. He was one of the highest paid stars of his time; making $5,000 a week in 1915, and $2 million a year via his own production company during the 1920s. He starred in over 80 movies and has two films in the U.S. National Film Registry.