Richard Barthelmess

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Richard Semler Dick Barthelmess May 9 1895 August 17 1963 was an Oscarnominated silent film star Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford Connecticut His father died when he was a baby and his mother Caroline Harris was a stage actress so he worked in theatres in his early days between schooling doing walkons This led to acting in college doing amateur productions Russian actress Alla Nazimova a friend of the family had been taught English by Barthelmesss mother Nazimova in return convinced Barthelmess to try acting professionally and he made his first film appearance in 1916 in the serial Glorias Romance as an extra At this time he also appeared as a supporting player in several films starring Marguerite Clark His next role in War Brides opposite Alla Nazimova attracted the attention of legendary director D W Griffith who offered him several important roles finally casting him opposite Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms 1919 and Way Down East 1920 He soon became one of Hollywoods highest paid performers starring in such classics as The Patent Leather Kid 1927 and The Noose 1928 he was nominated for Best Actor at the first Academy Awards for his performance in both these films and he won a Special Citation for producing The Patent Leather Kid He founded his own production company Inspiration Film Company together with Charles Duell and Henry King One of their films Tolable David 1921 in which Barthelmess starred as a teenage mailman who finds courage was a major success With the advent of the sound era Barthelmess fortunes changed He made several films in the new medium most notably Son of the Gods 1930 The Dawn Patrol 1930 The Last Flight 1931 and The Cabin in the Cotton 1932 Central Airport 1933 and a supporting role as Rita Hayworths characters husband in Only Angels Have Wings 1939 Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Barthelmess licensed under CCBYSAfull list of contributors on Wikipedia