Henry B. Walthall
Acting • Born 1878-03-15 – Died 1936-06-17
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). In New York in 1901, Walthall won a role in Under Southern Skies by Charlotte Blair Parker. He performed in the play for three years, in New York and on tour. With the company of Henry Miller he gained recognition on Broadway in plays including Pippa Passes, The Only Way and William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide (1906–08). His fellow cast member James Kirkwood introduced Walthall to D. W. Griffith, and at the conclusion of that engagement, Walthall joined the Biograph Company. His career in movies began in 1909 at Biograph Studios in New York with a leading role in the film A Convict's Sacrifice. This film also featured James Kirkwood, and was directed by D. W. Griffith, a director that played a huge part in Walthall's rise to stardom. As the industry grew in size and popularity, Griffith emerged as a director and Walthall found himself a mainstay of the Griffith company, frequently working alongside such Griffith regulars as Owen Moore, Kate Bruce, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mae Marsh, Bobby Harron and Jack and Mary Pickford. He followed Griffith's departure from New York's Biograph to California's Reliance-Majestic Studios in 1913. After a few months with Reliance, he joined Pathé for a short period. He decided to go into the producing business and formed The Union Feature Film Company, the first to be devoted entirely to full-length films. The venture was not successful, however, and he again became associated with Griffith's company. Given the relatively short length of films in the early years, Walthall frequently found himself cast in dozens of films each year. He gained national attention in 1915 for his role as Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's highly influential and controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation. Walthall's portrayal of a Confederate veteran rounding up the Ku Klux Klan won him large-scale fame, and Walthall was soon able to emerge as a leading actor in the years leading up to the 1920s, parting ways with Griffith. Walthall continued working in films through the 1920s, appearing in The Plastic Age with Gilbert Roland and Clara Bow. He portrayed Roger Chillingworth in Victor Seastrom's 1926 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter opposite Lillian Gish. Walthall continued his career into the 1930s. After his performance in director John Ford's 1934 film Judge Priest starring Will Rogers he enjoyed a golden period of his career. He portrayed Dr. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities (1935), starring Ronald Colman. In 1936 he appeared as Marcel in The Devil-Doll. He was gravely ill during his final film, China Clipper. Frank Capra wanted Walthall to portray the High Lama in his 1937 film, Lost Horizon. "Frail and failing, he died before we could test him," Capra wrote. Walthall has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
216 credits
A Light in the Window
Movie • 1927
Johann Graff
The Birth of a Nation
Movie • 1915
Col. Ben Cameron
42nd Street
Movie • 1933
Stage Actor (uncredited)
The Sealed Room
Movie • 1909
The Minstrel
Judge Priest
Movie • 1934
Reverend Ashby Brand
The Honor of His Family
Movie • 1910
George Pickett Jr.
The Avenging Conscience
Movie • 1914
The Nephew
I Am Not a Racist
Movie • 2019
Ben (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Devil-Doll
Movie • 1936
Marcel
Viva Villa!
Movie • 1934
Francisco Madero
The Scarlet Letter
Movie • 1934
Roger Chillingworth
London After Midnight
Movie • 1927
Sir James Hamlin
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie • 1935
Dr. Manette
A Corner in Wheat
Movie • 1909
Wheat King's Assistant
The Road to Mandalay
Movie • 1926
Father James
Love Time
Movie • 1934
Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
The Sheriff's Baby
Movie • 1913
First Bandit
A Flash of Light
Movie • 1910
Younger John Rogers
The Trespasser
Movie • 1929
Fuller
Ride Him, Cowboy
Movie • 1932
John Gaunt
Stark Mad
Movie • 1929
Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
Somewhere in Sonora
Movie • 1933
Bob Leadly
In the Aisles of the Wild
Movie • 1912
Jim Watson
The Scarlet Letter
Movie • 1927
Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
Two Daughters of Eve
Movie • 1912
The Father
The Green-Eyed Devil
Movie • 1914
Love in an Apartment Hotel
Movie • 1913
The Young Woman's Fiance
During the Round-Up
Movie • 1913
The Stranger
If We Only Knew
Movie • 1913
The Father
The Tenderfoot's Money
Movie • 1913
The Prospector
Lord Chumley
Movie • 1914
Lord Chumley
The Golden Bed
Movie • 1925
Col. Peake
Brutality
Movie • 1912
Actor In Oliver Twist
My Hero
Movie • 1912
Indian Charlie
The Stolen Loaf
Movie • 1913
The Poor Man
The Mirror
Movie • 1913
The Station Agent
A Gambler's Honor
Movie • 1913
Beth's Brother
Helldorado
Movie • 1935
Abner Meadows
The Odalisque
Movie • 1914
Joe, in love with May
Judith of Bethulia
Movie • 1914
Holofernes
Chandu the Magician
Movie • 1932
Robert Regent
The Misleading Lady
Movie • 1916
Jack Craiger
Men in White
Movie • 1934
enry B. Walthall
Modern Husbands
Movie • 1919
Stephen Duane
Dark Hazard
Movie • 1934
Schultz
Hearts in Bondage
Movie • 1936
Capt. Buchanan
The Mysterious Shot
Movie • 1914
The Gopher
The Face on the Barroom Floor
Movie • 1923
Robert Stevens
Strange Interlude
Movie • 1932
Professor Leeds
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
Movie • 1913
The Indian Chief's Son
Death's Marathon
Movie • 1913
The Husband
The House with Closed Shutters
Movie • 1910
Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
The Perfidy of Mary
Movie • 1913
The Poet
Hotel Continental
Movie • 1932
Winthrop
Klondike
Movie • 1932
Mark Armstrong
The Barrier
Movie • 1926
Gale Gaylord
Police Court
Movie • 1932
Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
Beggars in Ermine
Movie • 1934
Marchant the Blind Man
Dante's Inferno
Movie • 1935
Pop McWade
The Wanderer
Movie • 1913
The Wanderer
The Switchtower
Movie • 1913
The Switchman
Wilful Peggy
Movie • 1910
The Lord
Rose o' Salem Town
Movie • 1910
The Trapper
The Oath and the Man
Movie • 1910
Henri Prevost
The Phantom in the House
Movie • 1929
Boyd Milburn
Friends
Movie • 1912
Dandy Jack
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Movie • 1912
The Householder's Weakling Brother
Strongheart
Movie • 1914
Soangataha / Strongheart
Central Park
Movie • 1932
Eby
Home, Sweet Home
Movie • 1914
John Howard Payne
The False Faces
Movie • 1919
Michael Lanyard
Ramona
Movie • 1910
Alessandro
The Murder in the Museum
Movie • 1934
Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
A Child of the Ghetto
Movie • 1910
The Farmer
A Splendid Hazard
Movie • 1920
Karl Breitman
The Flaming Signal
Movie • 1933
Rev. Mr. James
City Park
Movie • 1934
Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
A Girl of the Limberlost
Movie • 1934
Dr. Amon
The Unknown Purple
Movie • 1923
Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
Her Forgotten Past
Movie • 1933
Mr. Maynard
Alias Mary Smith
Movie • 1932
Atwell
The Wolf Dog
Movie • 1933
Jim Courtney
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Movie • 1942
Self (archive footage)
Her Mother's Oath
Movie • 1913
The Actor
Three Faces East
Movie • 1926
George Bennett
The Old Man
Movie • 1914
The Old Man
The Floor Above
Movie • 1914
Stephen Pryde
The Mountain Rat
Movie • 1914
Douglas Williams
Abraham Lincoln
Movie • 1930
Colonel Marshall
Kentucky Pride
Movie • 1925
Mr. Beaumont
The Cabin in the Cotton
Movie • 1932
Eph Clinton
Classmates
Movie • 1914
Duncan Irving
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Movie • 1929
Father Juniper
The Gangsters of New York
Movie • 1914
Porky Dugan
London After Midnight
Movie • 2002
Sir James Hamlin (archive footage)
Gimme
Movie • 1923
John McGimsey
The Kickback
Movie • 1922
Aaron Price
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
Movie • 1908
Woodsman
Pippa Passes
Movie • 1909
The River of Romance
Movie • 1929
General Jeff Rumford
The Long Arm of Mannister
Movie • 1919
George Mannister
Everybody's Acting
Movie • 1926
Thorpe
Getting Even
Movie • 1909
Miner
Anybody's Blonde
Movie • 1931
Mr. Evans
Tol'able David
Movie • 1930
Amos Hatburn
In Old Kentucky
Movie • 1909
Robert, the Confederate son
Three Friends
Movie • 1913
The Husband
The Great Love
Movie • 1918
Sir Roger Brighton
The Mended Lute
Movie • 1909
Indian
The Last Outlaw
Movie • 1936
Cal Yates
A Woman in the Ultimate
Movie • 1913
Badger Gang Member
A Strange Meeting
Movie • 1909
A Thief
Temple Tower
Movie • 1930
Blackton
Me and My Gal
Movie • 1932
Sarge
Love Among the Roses
Movie • 1910
The Lord
The Broken Locket
Movie • 1909
Mexican Man
The Mine with the Iron Door
Movie • 1936
David Burton
Wings
Movie • 1927
Mr. Armstrong
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
Movie • 1925
Dr. Samuel Webb
The Unknown Soldier
Movie • 1926
John Phillips
The Two Brothers
Movie • 1910
Pedro
Fools of Fate
Movie • 1909
Hold Your Man
Movie • 1933
Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
Retribution
Movie • 1928
Henry / Tommy Mooney
Black Magic
Movie • 1929
Dr. Bradbroke
Pillars of Society
Movie • 1916
Karsten Bernick
Ghosts
Movie • 1915
Captain Alving / Oswald
The Whispering Shadow
Movie • 1933
J. D. Bradley
In Old California
Movie • 1910
Perdita's Son
Headline Shooter
Movie • 1933
Judge Beacon (uncredited)
Flower of the North
Movie • 1921
Philip Whitemore
The Thread of Destiny
Movie • 1910
Estrada
Broken Ways
Movie • 1913
The Road Agent
The Day After
Movie • 1909
Party Guest
The Usurer
Movie • 1910
One of the Second Debtors
In Life's Cycle
Movie • 1910
Vincent, as an Adult
The Call to Arms
Movie • 1910
The Lord
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful
Movie • 1910
Bill
The Heart of an Outlaw
Movie • 1909
The Mexican Lover
The Informer
Movie • 1912
The False Brother
My Baby
Movie • 1912
The Husband
The One She Loved
Movie • 1912
The Husband
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
Movie • 1912
A Psalm Singer
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
Movie • 1909
A Trap for Santa Claus
Movie • 1909
Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
The Confession
Movie • 1920
Father Bartlett
From Headquarters
Movie • 1929
Buffalo Bill Ryan
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work
Movie • 1925
William Hale
The Little Tease
Movie • 1913
The Valley Man
Two Men of the Desert
Movie • 1913
First Partner
Speakeasy
Movie • 1929
Piano player
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Movie • 1998
Col. Ben Cameron (archive footage)
Love Me and the World Is Mine
Movie • 1927
Van Denbosch
Oil and Water
Movie • 1913
The Idealist
The Love Trader
Movie • 1930
Captain Adams
The Lemon Drop Kid
Movie • 1934
Jonas Deering
His Last Burglary
Movie • 1910
The Way of the World
Movie • 1910
A Summer Idyll
Movie • 1910
The Face at the Window
Movie • 1910
Ralph Bradford
The Converts
Movie • 1910
The Gold Seekers
Movie • 1910
The Iconoclast
Movie • 1910
Thou Shalt Not
Movie • 1910
So Near, Yet So Far
Movie • 1912
In Club
The God Within
Movie • 1912
The Woodsman
One Clear Call
Movie • 1922
Henry Garnett
The Sin of Nora Moran
Movie • 1933
Father Ryan
The Plastic Age
Movie • 1925
Henry Carver
Boy of Mine
Movie • 1923
William Latimer
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
Movie • 1975
Self (archive footage)
The Lady and the Mouse
Movie • 1913
The First Rival
China Clipper
Movie • 1936
Dad Brunn
The Raven
Movie • 1915
Edgar Allan Poe
Fighting Love
Movie • 1927
Filipo Navarro
Pranks
Movie • 1909
Sunbather
Freedom of the Press
Movie • 1928
John Ballard
The Kid
Movie • 1910
Walter Holden
The Long Chance
Movie • 1922
Harley P. Hennage
Blaze o' Glory
Movie • 1929
Burke
The Strange Case of Mary Page
Movie • 1916
Phil Langdon, Attorney
The Garden Murder Case
Movie • 1936
Dr. Garden
The Slave
Movie • 1909
Alachus' Friend
The Woman on the Jury
Movie • 1924
Prosecuting Attorney
The Little Darling
Movie • 1909
In Boarding House
The Call
Movie • 1910
Billy Harvey
For His Sake
Movie • 1911
The Command from Galilee
Movie • 1911
The Lover
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
Movie • 1914
The President of the Republic
Souls Courageous
Movie • 1911
The Armorer’s Daughter
Movie • 1910
Macennas
The Gray of the Dawn
Movie • 1910
In Little Italy
Movie • 1909
Victor Ratazzi
On the Reef
Movie • 1910
Mr. Wilson
Where the Sea and the Shore Doth Meet
Movie • 1910
The Cloister’s Touch
Movie • 1910
The Father
The Long Lane's Turning
Movie • 1919
Harry Sevier
In the Border States
Movie • 1910
Confederate Corporal
Parted Curtains
Movie • 1920
Joe Jenkins
They Would Elope
Movie • 1909
Humdrum Brown
Movie • 1918
Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
The Able-Minded Lady
Movie • 1922
Breezy Bright
Self Defense
Movie • 1932
Doctor Borden
Rod of Wrath
Movie • 1915
Erickson's Son
The Outer Edge
Movie • 1915
Dr. Rownlee
The Circular Path
Movie • 1915
Reverend Darwin Kirby
Temper
Movie • 1915
Frank Bradbury
The Newlyweds
Movie • 1910
A Friend / At Station Reception
The Boomerang
Movie • 1919
George Gray
The Tenderfoot's Triumph
Movie • 1910
A Horse Thief
The Jazz Age
Movie • 1929
Mr Maxwell
Single Wives
Movie • 1924
Franklin Dexter
His Robe of Honor
Movie • 1918
Julian Randolph
The Sting of Victory
Movie • 1916
David Whiting / Walker Whiting
Dollar Down
Movie • 1925
Alec Craig
Is There Justice?
Movie • 1931
District Attorney John Raymond