King Baggot
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.
151 acting credits · 26 directing credits
Acting · 151
The Philadelphia Story
1940
The Postman Always Rings Twice
1946
A Night at the Opera
1935
Boys Town
1938
San Francisco
1936
Marie Antoinette
1938
Honky Tonk
1941
Ziegfeld Girl
1941
Fingers at the Window
1942
The Big Store
1941
The Secret Heart
1946
Stablemates
1938
Bitter Sweet
1940
Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
2011
Arsène Lupin Returns
1938
Come Live with Me
1941
Too Hot to Handle
1938
Father Brown, Detective
1934
The Bad Sister
1931
Mississippi
1935
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
1945
I Loved a Woman
1933
Dancing Co-Ed
1939
The Ice Follies of 1939
1939
Sworn Enemy
1936
I Take This Woman
1940
Chinatown Squad
1935
The Death Kiss
1932
Parnell
1937
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937
What Price Hollywood?
1932
Second Sight
1911
Cheating Cheaters
1934
Mad Holiday
1936
Pictureland
1911
Afraid to Talk
1932
3 Kids and a Queen
1935
Gallant Sons
1940
Rio Rita
1942
The Girl in the Taxi
1921
Dangerous Partners
1945
My Brother Talks to Horses
1947
Beloved
1934
Sweet Memories
1911
The Suburban
1915
Swing Fever
1943
The Devil-Doll
1936
Sweepstake Annie
1935
The Silent Stranger
1916
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1913
Graft
1931
The Ghost Comes Home
1940
Police Court
1932
Transfusion
1910
Jackass Mail
1942
A Night at the Movies
1937
That Mothers Might Live
1938
A Cave Man Wooing
1912
Sweepstakes
1931
Romance in the Rain
1934
Merton of the Movies
1947
Torture Money
1937
Girl of the Rio
1932
Opening Day
1938
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
1936
The Mirror
1911
The Butterfly Girl
1921
The Red Rider
1934
A Game for Two
1910
Holiday in Mexico
1946
The Call of the Savage
1935
Love's Stratagem
1909
The Scarlet Letter
1911
Half a Rogue
1916
Snow Gets in Your Eyes
1938
Stronger Than Desire
1939
The Shadow of Lightning Ridge
1920
Her Cardboard Lover
1942
A Notorious Gentleman
1935
Once a Gentleman
1930
Kildare of Storm
1918
The Czar of Broadway
1930
The Forbidden Thing
1920
The Count of Montebello
1910
Science
1911
The Irony of Fate
1910
All the World’s a Stage
1910
Old Heads and Young Hearts
1910
Ivanhoe
1913
The Temptress
1911
The Marble Heart
1915
Life's Twist
1920
The Eagle's Eye
1918
The Taming of Jane
1910
The Cheater
1920
While There is hope, There is Life
1911
Absinthe
1914
Think It Over
1938
The Hawk's Trail
1919
Up Against It
1912
The Call of the Song
1911
The Thrill Chaser
1923
The Fair Dentist
1911
The Man from Nowhere
1916
The Secret of the Palm
1911
At a Quarter of Two
1911
Mission of the War Chest
1918
The Time-Lock Safe
1910
The Rosary
1910
The Great Universal Mystery
1914
The Wife’s Awakening
1911
The Governor’s Pardon
1910
Over the Hills
1911
The Dwelling Place of Light
1920
At the Duke's Command
1911
The Big Flash
1932
His Second Wife
1910
The Better Way
1911
The Doctor's Perfidy
1910
The Right of Love
1910
Tracked
1911
A Reno Romance
1910
The Wanderer
1913
The Blind Man’s Tact
1910
Justice in the Far North
1910
The Call of the Circus
1910
It May Happen to You
1937
Building for Democracy
1918
Two Men
1910
The Tide of Fortune
1910
The New Shawl
1910
The Maelstrom
1910
Shamus O'Brien
1912
Mother Love
1910
In the Sultan's Garden
1911
The Rose's Story
1911
For the Queen's Honor
1911
The Awakening of Bess
1909
The Winning Punch
1910
The Broken Oath
1910
The Master and the Man
1911
The Man Who Stayed at Home
1919
Pressed Roses
1910
Jane and the Stranger
1910
The Eternal Triangle
1910
Debt
1910
Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens
1910
The Stage Note
1910
The Miser’s Daughter
1910
Once Upon a Time
1910
A Game of Deception
1911
Directing · 26
Tumbleweeds
1925
The Silent Stranger
1916
The Tornado
1925
Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman
1925
Lovey Mary
1926
Luring Lips
1921
The Kentucky Derby
1922
The Town Scandal
1923
Human Hearts
1922
Gossip
1923
The Darling of New York
1923
Kissed
1922
Romance of a Rogue
1928
The Whispered Name
1924
The Home Maker
1925
The Love Letter
1923
Cheated Love
1921
Perch of the Devil
1927
The Gaiety Girl
1924
The Notorious Lady
1927
Moonlight Follies
1921
A Dangerous Game
1922
The House of Scandal
1928
The Lavender Bath Lady
1922
Crossed Wires
1923
Nobody's Fool
1921