Larry Semon
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.
77 directing credits · 70 acting credits
Directing · 77
The Wizard of Oz
1925
Kid Speed
1924
The Show
1922
The Hick
1921
The Cloudhopper
1925
The Barnyard
1923
Bullies and Bullets
1917
Romans and Rascals
1918
Frauds and Frenzies
1918
School Days
1920
The Dome Doctor
1925
The Bakery
1921
The Girl in the Limousine
1924
Somewhere in Any Place
1917
Lightning Love
1923
A Pair of Kings
1922
The Head Waiter
1919
The Sportsman
1921
The Rent Collector
1921
Huns and Hyphens
1918
The Sawmill
1922
Bears and Bad Men
1918
Footlights and Fakers
1917
The Stunt Man
1927
Bathing Beauties and Big Boobs
1918
A Simple Sap
1928
Turks and Troubles
1917
The Bell Hop
1921
His Home Sweet Home
1919
The Fall Guy
1921
Golf
1922
Losing Weight
1916
The Man from Egypt
1916
Trouble Brewing
1924
The Midnight Cabaret
1923
Babes and Boobs
1918
The Counter Jumper
1922
The Suitor
1920
Her Boy Friend
1924
Dummies
1928
Dunces and Dangers
1918
Hash and Havoc
1916
A Villainous Villain
1916
The Grocery Clerk
1919
He Never Touched Me
1917
The Fly-Cop
1920
The Stage Hand
1920
Oh, What a Man!
1927
A Weakend Driver
1922
Plagues And Puppy Love
1917
Gall and Golf
1917
Between the Acts
1919
Tough Luck and Tin Lizzies
1917
Well, I'll Be
1919
Dull Care
1919
The Baby and the Boss
1915
Walls and Wallops
1916
There and Back
1916
The Star Boarder
1919
Horseshoes
1923
Dew Drop Inn
1919
Passing the Buck
1919
Hindoos and Hazards
1918
No Wedding Bells
1923
Captain Jinks' Evolution
1916
Flatheads and Flivvers
1917
Risks and Roughnecks
1917
Pluck and Plotters
1918
The Simple Life
1919
Big Bluffs and Bowling Balls
1917
Scamps and Scandals
1919
The Gown Shop
1923
Worries and Wobbles
1917
Traps and Tangles
1919
Jolts and Jewelry
1917
Rips and Rushes
1917
Skids and Scalawags
1918
Acting · 70
The Wizard of Oz
1925
Underworld
1927
Go Straight!
1925
Kid Speed
1924
The Show
1922
The Hick
1921
The Cloudhopper
1925
The Barnyard
1923
Bullies and Bullets
1917
Romans and Rascals
1918
Spuds
1927
Frauds and Frenzies
1918
School Days
1920
The Dome Doctor
1925
The Perfect Clown
1925
The Bakery
1921
The Girl in the Limousine
1924
Somewhere in Any Place
1917
Lightning Love
1923
A Pair of Kings
1922
The Head Waiter
1919
The Sportsman
1921
The Rent Collector
1921
Huns and Hyphens
1918
The Sawmill
1922
Bears and Bad Men
1918
Footlights and Fakers
1917
The Stunt Man
1927
Bathing Beauties and Big Boobs
1918
A Simple Sap
1928
Turks and Troubles
1917
The Bell Hop
1921
His Home Sweet Home
1919
The Fall Guy
1921
Golf
1922
Trouble Brewing
1924
The Midnight Cabaret
1923
Babes and Boobs
1918
The Counter Jumper
1922
The Suitor
1920
Her Boy Friend
1924
Dummies
1928
Dunces and Dangers
1918
The Grocery Clerk
1919
He Never Touched Me
1917
The Fly-Cop
1920
The Stage Hand
1920
Oh, What a Man!
1927
A Weakend Driver
1922
Plagues And Puppy Love
1917
Gall and Golf
1917
Between the Acts
1919
Tough Luck and Tin Lizzies
1917
Well, I'll Be
1919
Dull Care
1919
Walls and Wallops
1916
The Star Boarder
1919
Horseshoes
1923
Dew Drop Inn
1919
Passing the Buck
1919
Hindoos and Hazards
1918
No Wedding Bells
1923
Risks and Roughnecks
1917
Pluck and Plotters
1918
The Simple Life
1919
Big Bluffs and Bowling Balls
1917
Scamps and Scandals
1919
The Gown Shop
1923
Traps and Tangles
1919
Jolts and Jewelry
1917