Henry B. Walthall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). In New York in 1901, Walthall won a role in Under Southern Skies by Charlotte Blair Parker. He performed in the play for three years, in New York and on tour. With the company of Henry Miller he gained recognition on Broadway in plays including Pippa Passes, The Only Way and William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide (1906–08). His fellow cast member James Kirkwood introduced Walthall to D. W. Griffith, and at the conclusion of that engagement, Walthall joined the Biograph Company.
His career in movies began in 1909 at Biograph Studios in New York with a leading role in the film A Convict's Sacrifice. This film also featured James Kirkwood, and was directed by D. W. Griffith, a director that played a huge part in Walthall's rise to stardom. As the industry grew in size and popularity, Griffith emerged as a director and Walthall found himself a mainstay of the Griffith company, frequently working alongside such Griffith regulars as Owen Moore, Kate Bruce, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mae Marsh, Bobby Harron and Jack and Mary Pickford. He followed Griffith's departure from New York's Biograph to California's Reliance-Majestic Studios in 1913. After a few months with Reliance, he joined Pathé for a short period.
He decided to go into the producing business and formed The Union Feature Film Company, the first to be devoted entirely to full-length films. The venture was not successful, however, and he again became associated with Griffith's company.
Given the relatively short length of films in the early years, Walthall frequently found himself cast in dozens of films each year. He gained national attention in 1915 for his role as Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's highly influential and controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation. Walthall's portrayal of a Confederate veteran rounding up the Ku Klux Klan won him large-scale fame, and Walthall was soon able to emerge as a leading actor in the years leading up to the 1920s, parting ways with Griffith.
Walthall continued working in films through the 1920s, appearing in The Plastic Age with Gilbert Roland and Clara Bow. He portrayed Roger Chillingworth in Victor Seastrom's 1926 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter opposite Lillian Gish.
Walthall continued his career into the 1930s. After his performance in director John Ford's 1934 film Judge Priest starring Will Rogers he enjoyed a golden period of his career. He portrayed Dr. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities (1935), starring Ronald Colman. In 1936 he appeared as Marcel in The Devil-Doll. He was gravely ill during his final film, China Clipper.
Frank Capra wanted Walthall to portray the High Lama in his 1937 film, Lost Horizon. "Frail and failing, he died before we could test him," Capra wrote.
Walthall has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.
Acted in
London After Midnight
2002
as Sir James Hamlin (archive footage)
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
1998
as Col. Ben Cameron (archive footage)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
1975
as Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942
as Self (archive footage)
China Clipper
1936
as Dad Brunn
The Devil-Doll
1936
as Marcel
The Last Outlaw
1936
as Cal Yates
Hearts in Bondage
1936
as Capt. Buchanan
The Mine with the Iron Door
1936
as David Burton
The Garden Murder Case
1936
as Dr. Garden
A Tale of Two Cities
1935
as Dr. Manette
Dante's Inferno
1935
as Pop McWade
Helldorado
1935
as Abner Meadows
Love Time
1934
as Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
A Girl of the Limberlost
1934
as Dr. Amon
The Lemon Drop Kid
1934
as Jonas Deering
The Scarlet Letter
1934
as Roger Chillingworth
Judge Priest
1934
as Reverend Ashby Brand
The Murder in the Museum
1934
as Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
City Park
1934
as Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
Viva Villa!
1934
as Francisco Madero
Men in White
1934
as enry B. Walthall
Beggars in Ermine
1934
as Marchant the Blind Man
Dark Hazard
1934
as Schultz
The Sin of Nora Moran
1933
as Father Ryan
The Wolf Dog
1933
as Jim Courtney
Her Forgotten Past
1933
as Mr. Maynard
Headline Shooter
1933
as Judge Beacon (uncredited)
The Flaming Signal
1933
as Rev. Mr. James
Hold Your Man
1933
as Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
Somewhere in Sonora
1933
as Bob Leadly
The Whispering Shadow
1933
as J. D. Bradley
42nd Street
1933
as Stage Actor (uncredited)
Strange Interlude
1932
as Professor Leeds
Self Defense
1932
as Doctor Borden
Central Park
1932
as Eby
Me and My Gal
1932
as Sarge
The Cabin in the Cotton
1932
as Eph Clinton
Klondike
1932
as Mark Armstrong
Ride Him, Cowboy
1932
as John Gaunt
Chandu the Magician
1932
as Robert Regent
Alias Mary Smith
1932
as Atwell
Hotel Continental
1932
as Winthrop
Police Court
1932
as Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
Anybody's Blonde
1931
as Mr. Evans
Tol'able David
1930
as Amos Hatburn
Abraham Lincoln
1930
as Colonel Marshall
The Love Trader
1930
as Captain Adams
Temple Tower
1930
as Blackton
Blaze o' Glory
1929
as Burke
The Trespasser
1929
as Fuller
The Phantom in the House
1929
as Boyd Milburn
Black Magic
1929
as Dr. Bradbroke
The River of Romance
1929
as General Jeff Rumford
From Headquarters
1929
as Buffalo Bill Ryan
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1929
as Father Juniper
Speakeasy
1929
as Piano player
Stark Mad
1929
as Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
Freedom of the Press
1928
as John Ballard
Retribution
1928
as Henry / Tommy Mooney
London After Midnight
1927
as Sir James Hamlin
A Light in the Window
1927
as Johann Graff
Love Me and the World is Mine
1927
as Van Denbosch
Wings
1927
as Mr. Armstrong
Fighting Love
1927
The Scarlet Letter
1927
as Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
Everybody's Acting
1926
as Thorpe
The Road to Mandalay
1926
as Father James
The Unknown Soldier
1926
as John Phillips
The Barrier
1926
as Gale Gaylord
Three Faces East
1926
as George Bennett
The Plastic Age
1925
as Henry Carver
Kentucky Pride
1925
as Mr. Beaumont
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
1925
as Dr. Samuel Webb
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work
1925
as William Hale
The Golden Bed
1925
as Col. Peake
The Woman on the Jury
1924
as Prosecuting Attorney
Boy of Mine
1923
as William Latimer
The Unknown Purple
1923
as Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
Gimme
1923
as John McGimsey
The Face on the Barroom Floor
1923
as Robert Stevens
The Long Chance
1922
as Harley P. Hennage
The Kickback
1922
as Aaron Price
One Clear Call
1922
as Henry Garnett
The Able-Minded Lady
1922
as Breezy Bright
Flower of the North
1921
as Philip Whitemore
A Splendid Hazard
1920
as Karl Breitman
Parted Curtains
1920
as Joe Jenkins
The Confession
1920
as Father Bartlett
The Long Arm of Mannister
1919
as George Mannister
Modern Husbands
1919
as Stephen Duane
The False Faces
1919
as Michael Lanyard
The Long Lane's Turning
1919
The Great Love
1918
as Sir Roger Brighton
Humdrum Brown
1918
as Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
Pillars of Society
1916
as Karsten Bernick
The Strange Case of Mary Page
1916
as Phil Langdon, Attorney
The Misleading Lady
1916
as Jack Craiger
The Raven
1915
as Edgar Allan Poe
Ghosts
1915
as Captain Alving / Oswald
The Birth of a Nation
1915
as Col. Ben Cameron
Rod of Wrath
1915
as Erickson's Son
The Odalisque
1914
as Joe, in love with May
The Avenging Conscience
1914
as The Nephew
Lord Chumley
1914
as Lord Chumley
Home, Sweet Home
1914
as John Howard Payne
The Mountain Rat
1914
as Douglas Williams
The Old Man
1914
as The Old Man
The Mysterious Shot
1914
as The Gopher
The Floor Above
1914
as Stephen Pryde
Judith of Bethulia
1914
as Holofernes
Strongheart
1914
as Soangataha / Strongheart
The Green-Eyed Devil
1914
Classmates
1914
as Duncan Irving
The Gangsters of New York
1914
as Porky Dugan
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
1914
as The President of the Republic
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
1913
as The Indian Chief's Son
A Woman in the Ultimate
1913
as Badger Gang Member
Two Men of the Desert
1913
as First Partner
The Mirror
1913
as The Station Agent
During the Round-Up
1913
as The Stranger
A Gambler's Honor
1913
as Beth's Brother
Her Mother's Oath
1913
as The Actor
The Switchtower
1913
as The Switchman
Death's Marathon
1913
as The Husband
The Stolen Loaf
1913
as The Poor Man
The Tenderfoot's Money
1913
as The Prospector
The Wanderer
1913
as The Wanderer
If We Only Knew
1913
as The Father
The Lady and the Mouse
1913
as The First Rival
The Little Tease
1913
as The Valley Man
The Perfidy of Mary
1913
as The Poet
The Sheriff's Baby
1913
as First Bandit
Broken Ways
1913
as The Road Agent
Love in an Apartment Hotel
1913
as The Young Woman's Fiance
Oil and Water
1913
as The Idealist
Three Friends
1913
as The Husband
The God Within
1912
as The Woodsman
The Burglar’s Dilemma
1912
as The Householder's Weakling Brother
My Hero
1912
as Indian Charlie
Brutality
1912
as Actor In Oliver Twist
The Informer
1912
as The False Brother
My Baby
1912
as The Husband
The One She Loved
1912
as The Husband
In the Aisles of the Wild
1912
as Jim Watson
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
1912
as A Psalm Singer
So Near, Yet So Far
1912
as In Club
Friends
1912
as Dandy Jack
Two Daughters of Eve
1912
as The Father
For His Sake
1911
Souls Courageous
1911
The Command from Galilee
1911
as The Lover
Where the Sea and the Shore Doth Meet
1910
The Armorer’s Daughter
1910
as Macennas
The Gray of the Dawn
1910
The Iconoclast
1910
Rose o' Salem Town
1910
as The Trapper
The Oath and the Man
1910
as Henri Prevost
In Life's Cycle
1910
as Vincent, as an Adult
A Summer Idyll
1910
Wilful Peggy
1910
as The Lord
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful
1910
as Bill
The Usurer
1910
as One of the Second Debtors
The House with Closed Shutters
1910
as Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
The Call to Arms
1910
as The Lord
A Flash of Light
1910
as Younger John Rogers
In the Border States
1910
as Confederate Corporal
A Child of the Ghetto
1910
as The Farmer
Ramona
1910
as Alessandro
The Two Brothers
1910
as Pedro
The Face at the Window
1910
Love Among the Roses
1910
as The Lord
The Kid
1910
as Walter Holden
The Gold Seekers
1910
The Way of the World
1910
In Old California
1910
as Perdita's Son
The Thread of Destiny
1910
as Estrada
Thou Shalt Not
1910
The Converts
1910
The Cloister’s Touch
1910
as The Father
The Honor of His Family
1910
as George Pickett Jr.
The Call
1910
as Billy Harvey
On the Reef
1910
as Mr. Wilson
His Last Burglary
1910
The Heart of an Outlaw
1909
as The Mexican Lover
The Day After
1909
as Party Guest
In Little Italy
1909
as Victor Ratazzi
A Trap for Santa Claus
1909
as Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
A Corner in Wheat
1909
as Wheat King's Assistant
Fools of Fate
1909
Pippa Passes
1909
In Old Kentucky
1909
as Robert, the Confederate son
The Broken Locket
1909
as Mexican Man
Getting Even
1909
as Miner
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
1909
The Sealed Room
1909
as The Minstrel
The Little Darling
1909
as In Boarding House
Pranks
1909
as Sunbather
They Would Elope
1909
The Mended Lute
1909
as Indian
A Strange Meeting
1909
as A Thief
The Slave
1909
as Alachus' Friend
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
1908
as Woodsman
I Am Not a Racist
as Ben