C. Gardner Sullivan

C. Gardner Sullivan (September 18, 1884 – September 5, 1965) was an American screenwriter and film producer. He was a prolific writer with more than 350 films among his credits. In 1924 the magazine Story World selected him on a list of the ten individuals who had contributed the most to the advancement of the motion picture industry from its inception forward. Four of Sullivan's films, The Italian (1915), Civilization (1916), Hell's Hinges (1916) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), have been listed in the National Film Registry.

Early years

Sullivan was born in Stillwater, Minnesota and educated in the public schools of St. Paul, Minnesota. Interviewed in 1916, Sullivan said he was "not precisely what one would call a college man, although I had some training at the University of Minnesota.

In 1907, Sullivan went into the newspaper business, working on the staff of the St. Paul Daily News at a starting salary of six dollars per week. Shortly afterward, Sullivan was assigned to write a column that he later said "was supposed to be a humorous column." He moved to New York where he joined the staff of the New York Evening Journal. While working in New York, a colleague showed him an advertisement by a motion picture company in the Saturday Evening Post inviting new authors to contribute stories. Gardner recalled it was that advertisement that got him started with "photoplay writing."

Thomas H. Ince

Thomas H. Ince (November 16, 1880 – November 19, 1924) was an American silent film producer, director, screenwriter, and actor. Ince was known as the "Father of the Western" and was responsible for making over 800 films. He revolutionized the motion picture industry by creating the first major Hollywood studio facility and invented movie production by introducing the "assembly line" system of filmmaking. He was the first mogul to build his own film studio dubbed "Inceville" in Palisades Highlands. Ince was also instrumental in developing the role of the producer in motion pictures. Two of his fims, The Italian (1915), for which he wrote the screenplay, and Civilization (1916), which he directed, were selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. He later partnered with D.W. Griffith and Mack Sennett to form the Triangle Motion Picture Company whose studios are the present-day site of Sony Pictures. He then built a new studio about a mile from Triangle which is now the site of Culver Studios. Ince's untimely death at the height of his career after he became severely ill aboard the private yacht of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst has caused much speculation, although the official cause of his death was heart failure.

William S. Hart

William Surrey Hart (December 6, 1864 – June 23, 1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity." During the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was one of the most consistently popular movie stars, frequently ranking high among male actors in popularity contests held by movie fan magazines.

Biography

Hart was born in Newburgh, New York, to Nicholas Hart (c1834-1895) and Rosanna Hart (c1839–1909). William had 2 brothers, who died very young, and 4 sisters. His father was born in England, and his mother was born in Ireland.

He began his acting career on stage in his 20s, and in film when he was 49, which coincided with the beginning of film's transition from curiosity to commercial art form. Hart’s stage debut came in 1888 as a member of a company headed by Daniel E. Bandmann. The following year he joined Lawrence Barrett’s company in New York and later spent several seasons with Mlle. Hortense Rhéa’s traveling company. He toured and traveled extensively while trying to make a name for himself as an actor, and for a time directed shows at the Asheville Opera House in North Carolina, around the year 1900. He had some success as a Shakespearean actor on Broadway, working with Margaret Mather and other stars; he appeared in the original 1899 stage production of Ben-Hur. His family had moved to Asheville but, after his youngest sister Lotta died of typhoid fever in 1901, they all left together for Brooklyn until William went back on tour.

Howard Hickman

Howard Charles Hickman (February 9, 1880 – December 31, 1949) was an American actor, director and writer. He was an accomplished stage leading man, who entered films through the auspices of producer Thomas H. Ince. Hickman directed 19 films and co-starred with his wife, actress Bessie Barriscale, in several productions before returning to the theatre.

With the rise of the sound film, Hickman returned to the film business but received mostly small roles, often as an authoritarian figure. Hickman made a brief appearance as John Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939). He ended his film career in 1944, after more than 270 films.

Partial filmography

As actor

Enid Markey

Enid Markey (February 22, 1894 – November 15, 1981) was an American actress of stage, film and television. She originated the role of Jane in films, playing the character twice - in 1918 (Tarzan of The Apes; The Romance of Tarzan).

Biography

Markey was born in Dillon, Colorado. Her first film role was in The Fortunes of War (1911). During the production of The Wrath of the Gods (1914), Markey, a "leading lady with the New York Motion Picture Company", was "badly injured" during the production. During her scene in which the lava flow destroys the village she was surrounded by smoke and fumes and nearly asphyxiated, but had recovered by May 1914.

Her last appearance was in The Boston Strangler (1968). During the 1950s and 1960s she appeared in several television guest-starring roles, including The Andy Griffith Show as Barney Fife's landlady, and an episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., as Grandma Pyle.

In the 1960-1961 season, Markey was cast as Aunt Violet Flower in CBS's Bringing Up Buddy, co-starring Frank Aletter and Doro Merande. Markey and Merando played spinster aunts who provide a home for their bachelor nephew stockbroker, Buddy Flower, played by Aletter.