From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lou Tellegen (born Isidor Louis Bernard Edmon van Dommelen, November 26, 1881 – October 29, 1934) was a Dutch-born silent film and stage actor, film director and screenwriter.
Tellegen made his stage debut in Amsterdam in 1903, and over the next few years built a reputation to the point where he was invited to perform in Paris, eventually co-starring in several roles with Sarah Bernhardt, with whom he was involved romantically. In 1910, he made his motion picture debut alongside Bernhardt in La dame aux camélias, a silent film made in France.
In the summer of 1913, Tellegen went to London where he produced and starred in Oscar Wilde's play The Picture of Dorian Gray. Invited back to the United States, Tellegen worked in theatre and made his first American film in 1915, titled The Explorer, followed by The Unknown. Considered one of the best-looking actors on screen, he followed up with three straight films starring with Geraldine Farrar (his wife 1916-1923).
Tellegen married a total of four times. He became an American citizen in 1918.
Tellegen appeared in numerous films before his face was damaged in a fire on Christmas Day 1929, when he fell asleep while smoking. He had extensive plastic surgery in 1931.
Fame fading, employment not forthcoming, and ridden with debt, he filed for bankruptcy. He was diagnosed with cancer, though this information was kept from him, and he became despondent. In 1931, he wrote his autobiography Women Have Been Kind.
On October 29, 1934, while a guest in the Cudahy Mansion at 1844 North Vine Street in Hollywood (now the site of the Vine-Franklin underpass of the Hollywood Freeway), Tellegen locked himself in the bathroom, then shaved and powdered his face. Then, while standing in front of a full-length mirror, he committed suicide by stabbing himself with a pair of sewing scissors seven times. Tellegen was cremated and his remains scattered at sea.
Walter Davis Pidgeon (September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984) was a Canadian actor who lived most of his adult life in the United States. He starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs. Miniver, The Bad and the Beautiful, Forbidden Planet, Advise and Consent and Funny Girl.
Joan Standing (21 June 1903 – 3 February 1979) was an English actress best known for playing Nurse Briggs in the 1931 horror film Dracula. She appeared in more than 60 films from 1919 to 1940.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gibson Gowland (4 January 1877 Spennymoor, Durham, England, UK – 9 September 1951 London, England, UK) was an English film actor.
Gowland came to the United States from England, by way of Canada, in 1913 where he met Beatrice Bird, also from England, whom he married. They moved to Hollywood, working as bit players. In 1916, his son, actor and photographer Peter Gowland, was born.
His only starring role (out of 63 films) was in Greed (1924), directed by Erich von Stroheim, based on the Frank Norris novel McTeague, and costarring ZaSu Pitts. The film has since become a classic, despite its having been cut to one-fifth its original length for commercial release by MGM. Gowland portrayed the protagonist, dentist John McTeague. Von Stroheim also directed Gowland in his 1919 film Blind Husbands.
Gowland was cast as Simon Buquet in the 1925 film version of The Phantom of the Opera. He had bit parts in dozens of films from 1938 to 1945, but was rarely credited on-screen. After two divorces, Gowland returned to England in 1944. He died in London at age 74 from a lethal case of diarrhea. He is buried in Golders Green Crematorium.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Gibson Gowland, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.