King Baggot
Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
1879-11-06
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William King Baggot (November 7, 1879 – July 11, 1948) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent film era. The first individually publicized leading man in America, Baggot was referred to as "King of the Movies", "The Most Photographed Man in the World", and "The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon". Baggot appeared in over 300 motion pictures from 1909 to 1947, wrote 18 screenplays, and directed 45 movies from 1912 to 1928, including The Lie (1912), Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1925), and The House of Scandal (1928). He also directed William S. Hart in his most famous western, Tumbleweeds (1925). Among his film appearances, Baggot was best known for The Scarlet Letter (1911), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913), and Ivanhoe (1913). Baggot began his career on the stage, in a Shakespearean stock company, and toured throughout the U.S. While acting in stock in St. Louis in 1909, he was cast as supporting player in the Schubert touring production of The Wishing Ring. When The Wishing Ring closed in Chicago, Baggot returned to New York to join another company. Upon a chance meeting with Harry Solter, who was directing movies for Carl Laemmle at Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), he was persuaded to go with Solter to the studio. Baggot became interested in the fledgling industry and decided to turn picture player. His first film was the romance short The Awakening of Bess (1909) opposite Florence Lawrence. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP in Fort Lee, New Jersey. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie stars" to be given billing, a marquee, and promotion in advertising. Baggot starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies with Mary Pickford. He also began writing screenplays and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president. King Baggot died in Los Angeles, California in 1948, age 68. For his contributions to the film industry, Baggot received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.
Movies:
The Temptress
Once a Gentleman
Think It Over
Come Live with Me
Shamus O'Brien
The Cheater
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Marble Heart
Mission of the War Chest
I Loved a Woman
A Night at the Opera
My Brother Talks to Horses
Life's Twist
The Emperor's Candlesticks
It May Happen to You
The Wanderer
The Hawk's Trail
The Forbidden Thing
Girl of the Rio
Sweet Memories
A Notorious Gentleman
The Devil-Doll
The Mirror
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
The Big Flash
Sweepstakes
The Big Store
A Night at the Movies
Stronger Than Desire
Sworn Enemy
Snow Gets in Your Eyes
Mississippi
That Mothers Might Live
The Call of the Savage
Dancing Co-Ed
Arsène Lupin Returns
The Red Rider
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
The Silent Stranger
I Take This Woman
Merton of the Movies
The Scarlet Letter
Dangerous Partners
Police Court
Ivanhoe
The Philadelphia Story
Gallant Sons
Bitter Sweet
The Bad Sister
A Cave Man Wooing
Up Against It
Graft
Afraid to Talk
Her Cardboard Lover
The Wife’s Awakening
Chinatown Squad
Jackass Mail
Stablemates
Honky Tonk
Opening Day
What Price Hollywood?
The Master and the Man
In the Sultan's Garden
For the Queen's Honor
At a Quarter of Two
Science
Pictureland
Tracked
The Secret of the Palm
While There is hope, There is Life
Second Sight
The Call of the Song
The Fair Dentist
The Rose's Story
The Better Way
The Girl in the Taxi
The Death Kiss
Boys Town
The Thrill Chaser
Torture Money
The Eagle's Eye
Romance in the Rain
The Czar of Broadway
The Secret Heart
Absinthe
Fingers at the Window
3 Kids and a Queen
Rio Rita
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
Over the Hills
Sweepstake Annie
At the Duke's Command
The Ice Follies of 1939
Marie Antoinette
San Francisco
Mad Holiday
Ziegfeld Girl
Swing Fever
The Awakening of Bess
The Call of the Circus
The Count of Montebello
Debt
The Eternal Triangle
A Game for Two
His Second Wife
The Irony of Fate
Jane and the Stranger
Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens
The Blind Man’s Tact
The Maelstrom
The Miser’s Daughter
The New Shawl
Old Heads and Young Hearts
Once Upon a Time
Pressed Roses
A Reno Romance
The Right of Love
The Taming of Jane
Transfusion
Two Men
The Winning Punch
The Doctor's Perfidy
Love's Stratagem
All the World’s a Stage
The Great Universal Mystery
The Ghost Comes Home
Beloved
Half a Rogue
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Man from Nowhere
The Suburban
Parnell
Building for Democracy
Kildare of Storm
The Time-Lock Safe
Holiday in Mexico
The Dwelling Place of Light
Father Brown, Detective
Cheating Cheaters
Too Hot to Handle
Profiles:
