Larry Semon
Directing • Born 1889-07-14 – Died 1928-10-08
Biography
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.
Filmography
70 credits
Underworld
Movie • 1927
Slippy Lewis
The Wizard of Oz
Movie • 1925
Scarecrow / Toymaker
The Sawmill
Movie • 1922
The Dumb-Bell
Golf
Movie • 1922
The son
Kid Speed
Movie • 1924
The Speed Kid
Go Straight!
Movie • 1925
Self
The Simple Life
Movie • 1919
A Farmer's Boy
Pluck and Plotters
Movie • 1918
The Janitor
Passing the Buck
Movie • 1919
The House Detective
Between the Acts
Movie • 1919
Larry, the Handy Man and a Drunkard
Scamps and Scandals
Movie • 1919
Larry
School Days
Movie • 1920
Joe
The Suitor
Movie • 1920
The Suitor
The Fly-Cop
Movie • 1920
The Fly Cop
The Hick
Movie • 1921
Larry, the Hick
Dummies
Movie • 1928
The Entertainer
A Simple Sap
Movie • 1928
It
The Star Boarder
Movie • 1919
Star Boarder / Little Joe, Escaped Convict
A Weakend Driver
Movie • 1922
The Grocery Clerk
Movie • 1919
The Grocery Clerk
The Cloudhopper
Movie • 1925
Borden Rhoom / Getz A. Bunn
The Perfect Clown
Movie • 1925
Bert Larry
Plagues And Puppy Love
Movie • 1917
Larry
Bears and Bad Men
Movie • 1918
Larry Cutshaw
Romans and Rascals
Movie • 1918
Caesar / A Minstrel
Frauds and Frenzies
Movie • 1918
Larry, First Prisoner
Huns and Hyphens
Movie • 1918
Larry
Dunces and Dangers
Movie • 1918
Larry
His Home Sweet Home
Movie • 1919
The Husband
Dew Drop Inn
Movie • 1919
Larry, the Detective
Dull Care
Movie • 1919
Larry, a Detective
Traps and Tangles
Movie • 1919
Detective Sparks
The Bakery
Movie • 1921
Larry, a Bakery Clerk
The Rent Collector
Movie • 1921
Larry, the Rent Collector
The Bell Hop
Movie • 1921
The Bellhop
The Sportsman
Movie • 1921
The Sportsman
The Fall Guy
Movie • 1921
Larry, the Fall Guy
The Counter Jumper
Movie • 1922
Larry, the Counter Jumper
A Pair of Kings
Movie • 1922
King August / Stranger
The Stunt Man
Movie • 1927
Larry
Lightning Love
Movie • 1923
Larry, a Suitor
The Midnight Cabaret
Movie • 1923
Larry, a Waiter
No Wedding Bells
Movie • 1923
Larry
Horseshoes
Movie • 1923
Larry
The Gown Shop
Movie • 1923
Larry, a salesman
Her Boy Friend
Movie • 1924
Larry, the Chief's son
Gall and Golf
Movie • 1917
O.U. Dubb
Walls and Wallops
Movie • 1916
The Girl in the Limousine
Movie • 1924
Tony
Bathing Beauties and Big Boobs
Movie • 1918
Lawrence
Oh, What a Man!
Movie • 1927
The Detective
The Barnyard
Movie • 1923
Lay Zee, Farm Hand
The Head Waiter
Movie • 1919
The Head Waiter
Hindoos and Hazards
Movie • 1918
Larry
The Dome Doctor
Movie • 1925
Peter Pep
Risks and Roughnecks
Movie • 1917
Our Hero
Tough Luck and Tin Lizzies
Movie • 1917
Larry
The Show
Movie • 1922
The Prop Man / Gentle Onlooker
Well, I'll Be
Movie • 1919
The Sheriff
Trouble Brewing
Movie • 1924
Government agent
The Stage Hand
Movie • 1920
The Stage Hand
Spuds
Movie • 1927
Spuds
Turks and Troubles
Movie • 1917
Footlights and Fakers
Movie • 1917
He Never Touched Me
Movie • 1917
Somewhere in Any Place
Movie • 1917
Big Bluffs and Bowling Balls
Movie • 1917
Jolts and Jewelry
Movie • 1917
Bullies and Bullets
Movie • 1917
Babes and Boobs
Movie • 1918
A Boob