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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Feb 5, 2017 1:10:36 GMT
...silent film and early television?
I like both. But the two mediums are very different. Silent films are entirely visual, early TV is largely dialogue-driven.
But some people had success in both. First that comes to my mind is Buster Keaton. OK, so his own series was short-lived, but in the 1950s/1960s he earned good money from making guest appearances on various TV shows (not to mention many commercials).
What are some other actors/actresses who had success in both silent film and early television?
I hope this question isn't too strange.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Feb 5, 2017 2:57:03 GMT
Re: Ronald Colman. I very much enjoyed the episode "The Man Who Walked Out on Himself" of "Four Star Playhouse", which is almost entirely acted by him (a second actor makes brief appearances).
Re: Dorothy Gish, wasn't aware she did TV, but I see on her IMDb page she did some of the big anthologies in her later years. My favourite silent film I've seen with her is "Gretchen the Greenhorn", a very nice film.
Regarding Lillian Gish, she is an actress I really need to check out, but some of her films are probably too long for me (I have trouble watching silent films over 90 minutes). I will try to check out "Broken Blossoms" at some point.
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Post by tarathian123 on Feb 6, 2017 13:35:41 GMT
Not too many made a success of both silent and talkie movies. Gloria Swanson had only two talkie hits, 'The Trespasser' and 'Sunset Boulevard'. Even Charlie Chaplin didn't make a great success of the transition. Some which did and come immediately to mind are Laurel & Hardy, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer.
I was talking above of movies. Can't think of any silent stars who made a success of TV. As I recall they appeared as mainly one-off guests on chat shows and talking of bygone achievements, and most weren't even around when TV really got going as the #1 family entertainment, maybe in the US, but certainly not here in the UK where mass TV ownership came later.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 14:32:50 GMT
Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Zasu Pitts, HB Warner, Garbo, and William Powell.
Chaplin had success with "The Great Dictator" and "Limelight", and I also like "Verdouix".
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Post by Artemis on Feb 6, 2017 21:15:11 GMT
I think Ethel Barrymore did some TV up until her death in 1959, Betty Bronson as well did some TV. I think Jackie Coogan was a silent film star and he went on to star as Uncle Fester in the Addams Family TV show.
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Post by tarathian123 on Feb 6, 2017 21:15:39 GMT
Limelight wasn't an immediate succsess. Due to accusations of Chaplin having communist sympathies, most US cinemas refused to show it. It only became more appreciated in the States much later. It had a moderate success in the UK, but as I recall the music of the movie was more popular than the movie itself. I've never seen 'Verdoux'.
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Post by Nick91 on Feb 6, 2017 21:29:42 GMT
These two Wikipedia pages are a good starting point, as they quickly identify people across multiple categories. Of course, they don't account for level of stardom in respective acting mediums; that'd have to be done manually. Mickey Rooney was famous enough during the silent era with the Mickey McGuire series. As for his television work, it wasn't anything extraordinary but at least it was steady. Conrad Nagel is another name that found success in both silent films and on television. Among the actresses, Loretta Young is pretty hard to beat. She had a few prominent roles in several 1928 silent films, and she had two popular TV shows in the 50s and 60s.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 23:50:36 GMT
Limelight wasn't an immediate succsess. Due to accusations of Chaplin having communist sympathies, most US cinemas refused to show it. It only became more appreciated in the States much later. It had a moderate success in the UK, but as I recall the music of the movie was more popular than the movie itself. I've never seen 'Verdoux'. If you like "Dictator" or "Limelight", you might like ""Verdoux". Not nearly as 'dark and brooding' as some film historians/reviewers insinuate, it's more a broad comedy with the subtext of 'murder vs war', almost a recap of "Dictator" at the end. Very hokey in spots. I do enjoy it, though.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Feb 7, 2017 18:03:58 GMT
Charles Farrell was a popular leading man of the late '20s, especially when teamed with Janet Gaynor Talkies revealed his very high pitched, rather prissy voice, and his career waned quickly. He becme a successful businessman, co-founding the Palm Springs Raquet Club, which helped popularize tennis among the Southern California elite. In the '50s Hal Roach taked him into playing the father on the sitcom My Little Margie, where his voice wasn't such a drawback.
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Post by telegonus on Feb 9, 2017 9:18:24 GMT
...silent film and early television? I like both. But the two mediums are very different. Silent films are entirely visual, early TV is largely dialogue-driven. But some people had success in both. First that comes to my mind is Buster Keaton. OK, so his own series was short-lived, but in the 1950s/1960s he earned good money from making guest appearances on various TV shows (not to mention many commercials). What are some other actors/actresses who had success in both silent film and early television? I hope this question isn't too strange. No. Not strange at all. Another actor who enjoyed both silent and sound success, more so in sound, is Warner Baxter. Edmund Lowe deserves a mention, though like many silent era actors who made a successful transition to talkies he couldn't sustain his second wind for too long. Richard Arlen is another like that, though he was never a top star.
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Post by rctina on Feb 10, 2017 6:09:02 GMT
Charlie Ruggles. He started out in silents, then became popular in early talkie comedies. Later he had his own television series. He also appeared as Hayley Mills' grandfather in "The Parent Trap" and had a recurring role as "Daddy Farquahar", Mrs. Drysdale's father on "The Beverly Hillbillies" and one of Granny's suitors.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 20:45:03 GMT
Neil Hamilton and William Demarest.
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Post by naterdawg on Feb 17, 2017 5:22:40 GMT
I could be wrong, but Joan Crawford was the ONLY silent star to still be headlining in films in 1970, with Trog.
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Post by Wesley Crusher on Feb 17, 2017 5:50:33 GMT
I could be wrong, but Joan Crawford was the ONLY silent star to still be headlining in films in 1970, with Trog. Mickey Rooney was not a silent star ... but he did appear in a silent film in (1927) ... then he mostly headlined films as good as Trog until he died in 2014 (mickey rooney ... not trog ... lol) 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
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Post by naterdawg on Feb 17, 2017 6:19:24 GMT
I have absolutely no problem with Mickey Rooney, but after the 40s, he was usually a supporting actor. Crawford was the female lead in several silent films, and she was still the lead in Trog. Oh, and Berserk (in 1968). That's an amazing run, and I don't think any other actor in Hollywood has ever matched it. Not even Crawford's nemesis, Bette Davis...who was not a silent film star.
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Post by Nick91 on Feb 17, 2017 22:42:00 GMT
I have absolutely no problem with Mickey Rooney, but after the 40s, he was usually a supporting actor. Crawford was the female lead in several silent films, and she was still the lead in Trog. Oh, and Berserk (in 1968). That's an amazing run, and I don't think any other actor in Hollywood has ever matched it. Not even Crawford's nemesis, Bette Davis...who was not a silent film star. Yeah, Joan is pretty tough to beat here. An honourable mention goes to Loretta Young, who co-starred with Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1928 silent film Laugh, Clown, Laugh. In 1986, she won a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a TV movie called Christmas Eve. Admittedly, she had taken taken a few decades off before relaunching her acting career in the 1980s. She was nominated for another GG in 1989 but didn't win this time.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Feb 17, 2017 22:47:17 GMT
I didn't know Loretta Young did a silent film! That's what I like about these boards, you learn something new every day.
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Post by naterdawg on Feb 17, 2017 22:52:31 GMT
I have absolutely no problem with Mickey Rooney, but after the 40s, he was usually a supporting actor. Crawford was the female lead in several silent films, and she was still the lead in Trog. Oh, and Berserk (in 1968). That's an amazing run, and I don't think any other actor in Hollywood has ever matched it. Not even Crawford's nemesis, Bette Davis...who was not a silent film star. Yeah, Joan is pretty tough to beat here. An honourable mention goes to Loretta Young, who co-starred with Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1928 silent film Laugh, Clown, Laugh. In 1986, she won a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a TV movie called Christmas Eve. Admittedly, she had taken taken a few decades off before relaunching her acting career in the 1980s. She was nominated for another GG in 1989 but didn't win this time. That's true about Loretta. She actually made two TV movies very late in her career...but she wasn't making movies, like Crawford. Even though Trog was drek, she was the name that anchored the film. I saw it at a drive-in sometime in 1970.
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Post by Matthew the Swordsman on Feb 17, 2017 22:56:01 GMT
Yeah, Joan is pretty tough to beat here. An honourable mention goes to Loretta Young, who co-starred with Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1928 silent film Laugh, Clown, Laugh. In 1986, she won a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a TV movie called Christmas Eve. Admittedly, she had taken taken a few decades off before relaunching her acting career in the 1980s. She was nominated for another GG in 1989 but didn't win this time. That's true about Loretta. She actually made two TV movies very late in her career...but she wasn't making movies, like Crawford. Even though Trog was drek, she was the name that anchored the film. I saw it at a drive-in sometime in 1970. Mind you, I think many people would rather end their career in an award winning TV movie than a film like Trog.
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Post by naterdawg on Feb 17, 2017 23:56:08 GMT
That's true about Loretta. She actually made two TV movies very late in her career...but she wasn't making movies, like Crawford. Even though Trog was drek, she was the name that anchored the film. I saw it at a drive-in sometime in 1970. Mind you, I think many people would rather end their career in an award winning TV movie than a film like Trog. I agree 100%, except to an actress like Crawford--who prided herself on working, above all else--she was still able to headline a motion picture released by a major company (Warner Brothers). And she did some memorable TV work later, too...like the pilot for Night Gallery, directed by Spielberg.
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