American silent film comedian whose hugely successful career disappeared virtually overnight, Larry Semon was the son of a traveling vaudeville magician, Zera the Great. He grew up in show business and was trained in stage comedy and acrobatics. A talent for drawing and cartooning led to art school and then work as a cartoonist for various New York City newspapers. The humor evident in his published cartoons prompted executives at New York's Vitagraph Studios to hire him as a gag writer in 1916. He quickly proved himself and was promoted to director for the Hughie Mack series of comedies. His background in magic helped him create interesting new gags for the comedian. When Mack left the studio in 1917, Semon took over the starring role himself. His one-reelers were quite successful, and Vitagraph sent him to California to participate in its new West Coast operation. He produced as well as wrote, starred in and directed his own films, at the same time also producing films for other comics.
In the summer of 1928 Semon apparently fell ill with tuberculosis and simultaneously, it seems, suffered a nervous breakdown. He entered a sanitarium near San Bernardino, CA, where he reportedly died on October 8. However, an air of mystery surrounds his death, since his wife (and former co-star) Dorothy Dwan was allowed almost no contact with him and never saw his body, which was ordered cremated after a tightly secured funeral, which was carried out per Semon's "previous instructions" and to which almost no attendees were allowed. The whereabouts of Semon's cremated remains are to this day a mystery, and his widow professed until her death to be mystified by the circumstances of his passing. With enormous financial obligations facing him Larry Semon could easily have considered a dramatic escape of this sort from his creditors. Whether he did, or whether his death was the sad final chapter to a high-rising, briefly brilliant, but ultimately short-lived career may never be known for certain.
1928
as It
1928
as The Entertainer
1927
as The Detective
1927
as Larry
1927
as Slippy Lewis
1927
as Spuds
1925
as Bert Larry
1925
as Borden Rhoom / Getz A. Bunn
1925
as Self
1925
as Peter Pep
1925
as Scarecrow
1924
as The Speed Kid
1924
as Larry, the Chief's son
1924
as Tony
1924
as Government agent
1923
as Larry
1923
as Larry, a Suitor
1923
as Larry, a salesman
1923
as Lay Zee, Farm Hand
1923
as Larry, a Waiter
1923
as Larry
1922
as Larry, the Counter Jumper
1922
as The son
1922
as King August / Stranger
1922
1922
as The Prop Man / Gentle Onlooker
1922
as The Dumb-Bell
1921
as The Bellhop
1921
as Larry, the Fall Guy
1921
as Larry, a Bakery Clerk
1921
as Larry, the Rent Collector
1921
as Larry, the Hick
1921
as The Sportsman
1920
as The Suitor
1920
as The Stage Hand
1920
as Joe
1920
as The Fly Cop
1919
as The Grocery Clerk
1919
as The Head Waiter
1919
as Larry, the Detective
1919
as Larry, a Detective
1919
as Larry, the Handy Man and a Drunkard
1919
as A Farmer's Boy
1919
as The Husband
1919
as Star Boarder / Little Joe, Escaped Convict
1919
as The House Detective
1919
as The Sheriff
1919
as Larry
1919
as Detective Sparks
1918
as The Janitor
1918
as Larry, First Prisoner
1918
as Larry Cutshaw
1918
as Larry
1918
as Larry
1918
as Lawrence
1918
as Larry
1918
as Caesar / A Minstrel
1917
as Larry
1917
as Larry
1917
as Our Hero
1917
as O.U. Dubb
1916