Ernest Torrence
He was the man you loved to hiss. This towering (6' 4"), highly imposing character star with cold, hollow, beady eyes and a huge, protruding snout would go on to become one of the silent screen's finest arch villains. Born Ernest Thayson Torrence-Thompson on June 26, 1878, in Edinburgh, Scotland, he was, unlikely enough, an exceptional pianist and operatic baritone. A graduate of the Stuttgart Conservatory, Edinburgh Academy before earning a scholarship at London's Royal Academy of Music, he toured with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in such productions as "The Emerald Isle" (1901) and "The Talk of the Town" (1905) before serious vocal problems set in. Both Ernest and his actor brother David Torrence came to America directly from Scotland prior to WWI. Focusing instead on a purely acting career, both brothers developed into seasoned players on the New York stage. Ernest made his Broadway bow with "Modest Suzanne" in 1912 and a standout role in "The Night Boat" in 1920 brought him to the attention of Hollywood filmmakers. He earned superb marks playing the despicable adversary Luke Hatburn in Tol'able David (1921) opposite Richard Barthelmess, and immediately settled into films for the rest of his career. Adept at both comedy and drama, Ernest avoided what could have been a damaging stereotype with his sympathetic portrayal of a grizzled old codger in the classic western The Covered Wagon (1923). He further bolstered his celebrity with plum, lip-smacking roles alongside Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) as Clopin, king of the beggars, and Betty Bronson in Peter Pan (1924) as the dastardly Captain Hook. In an offbeat bit of casting he paired up with Clara Bow in Mantrap (1926) as a gentle, bear-like backwoodsman in search of a wife, and participated in other silent classics such as The King of Kings (1927) (as Peter) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) as Buster Keaton's steamboat captain Dad. Despite his celluloid villainy, Ernest was known as a courtly and cultivated gentleman in private. He made the transition into talking films intact and was able to play a marvelous nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, to Clive Brooks ' Sherlock Holmes (1932) before his untimely death. Ernest died following his filming as a smuggler in I Cover the Waterfront (1933) starring Claudette Colbert in New York on May 15,1933, at the relatively young age of 54. It seems that while en route to Europe by ship, Torrence suffered an acute attack of gall stones and was rushed back to a New York hospital. He died of complications following surgery. Looking and usually playing much older than he was, Hollywood lost a marvelously talented and robust character player who had dozens of films ahead of him.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
as ClopinIn 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and...
Movie page
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
as William 'Steamboat Bill' Canfield Sr.The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father...
Movie page
The King of Kings
as PeterThe King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In...
Movie page
Sporting Blood
as Mr. Jim RellenceA horse with great potential is reluctantly sold by the breeder and by chance passes through...
Movie page
Officer O'Brien
as John Patrick O'BrienBill O'Brien is promoted to lieutenant in the police department for his arrest of Mike Patello,...
Movie page
The Pony Express
as 'Ascension' JonesThe Pony Express is a silent 1925 Western film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed...
Movie page
Peter Pan
as Captain James HookPeter Pan enters the nursery of the Darling children and, with the help of fairy dust, leads...
Movie page
The American Venus
as King NeptuneA lost film - Mary Gray, whose father manufactures cold cream, is engaged to sappy Horace Niles,...
Movie page
Ruggles of Red Gap
as Cousin Egbert FloudAn English valet brought to the American west assimilates into the American way of life.
Movie page
Call of the Flesh
as EstebanA student nun falls in love with a Mexican singer starring in a cafe next door to her convent.
Movie page
Sweet Kitty Bellairs
as Sir Jasper StandishKitty Bellairs, a flirtatious young woman of 18th Century England, cuts a swath of broken hearts...
Movie page
Tol'able David
as Luke HatburnYoung David Kinemon is a good-natured, easy-going lad in a mountain village. Circumstances force...
Movie page
Twelve Miles Out
as Red McCueJerry always wins in his rivalry with Red over women, gunrunning, and diamond smuggling. While...
Movie page
The Covered Wagon
as JacksonTwo wagon caravans converge at what is now Kansas City, and combine for the westward push to...
Movie page
The Heritage of the Desert
as August NaabThe year is 1876 and Holderness "tyrant of the desert" is trying to force August Naab to sell...
Movie page
I Cover the Waterfront
as Eli Kirk (Julie's father)An investigative reporter romances a suspected smuggler's daughter.
Movie page
The Cossacks
as IvanStirring romance, hard riding, desperate fighting with the Cossacks playing their game of war...
Movie page
Hypnotized
as Prof. Horace S. Limberly - HypnotistA Gypsy violinist searches for her missing fiance, a circus worker who recently won a...
Movie page
The Brass Bottle
as Fakresh-el-AamashHorace Ventimore, a young London architect, stumbles across an old brass bottle. When he picks...
Movie page
New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford
as Blackie DawWallingford is a con-man whose specialty is taking money from suckers. His partners are...
Movie page
Fighting Caravans
as Bill JacksonClint Belmet (Gary Cooper) is a bit of a firebrand and is sentenced to at least 30 days in jail,...
Movie page
Across to Singapore
as Captain Mark ShoreWhile Joel and his older ship's captain brother Mark are at sea, the latter is abandoned in...
Movie page
Desert Nights
as SteveA con man with his beautiful accomplice and a hostage steals a half million dollars worth of...
Movie page
The Great Lover
as PotterAn aspiring classical singer is romanced by both a famous opera star and his younger understudy.
Movie page
Captain Salvation
as Captain of the 'Panther'A young divinity student helps and protects a down and out prostitute, at the cost of his own...
Movie page
The Lady of the Harem
as HassanRafi arrives in the city in search of Pervaneh who was taken by the Sultan. He is joined by...
Movie page
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Uncle PioThis first cinematic version of the classic book is a part-talkie, although the only surviving...
Movie page
The Unholy Night
as Dr. BallouWhen a rash of murders depletes their number, a billionaire's employees are brought together at...
Movie page
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
as 'Devil' Jud TolliverJune Tolliver is a Kentucky mountain girl whose family is feuding with the Falins. But their...
Movie page
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
as Self (from Mantrap [1926]) (archive footage)Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl features scenes from 25 of her films, as well as interviews...
Movie page
Speedway
as Jim MacDonaldBill Whipple is a happy-go-lucky mechanic for MacDonald who thinks that he is the worlds...
Movie page
The Cuban Love Song
as RomanceA guilt-ridden U.S. Marine returns to Cuba to try to find the woman he promised to marry.
Movie page
Mantrap
as Joe EasterA sexy young manicurist living with her older backwoodsman husband in a small Canadian town...
Movie page
The Rainmaker
as MikeThe story of a racetrack tout whose prayers could bring a dry or muddy racetrack, and how he...
Movie page
Untamed
as Uncle Ben MurchisonIn her first Talkie, Joan Crawford plays Bingo, a jungle-raised oil heiress, who turns Manhattan...
Movie page
Strictly Unconventional
as Lord PorteousAn adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's The Circle. A young woman married into an aristocratic...
Movie page
A Dangerous Affair
as Abner (as Ernest Torrance)Elderly millionaire James Rance, whose only passion is chess, warns his grandson Tommy, who...
Movie page
The Prodigal Judge
as Solomon MahaffyThe story takes place in the pre-Civil War era South. Judge Price has a fondness for liquor...
Movie page
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
as Self (archive footage)The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of...
Movie page
The Fighting Coward
as Gen. Orlando JacksonSoutherner Tom Rumford was sent up north to be raised by relatives who happen to be Quakers. As...
Movie page
The Dressmaker from Paris
as Angus McGregorAn American soldier falls in love with a French maiden but their romance is thwarted when the...
Movie page
Shipmates
as Chief Bosuns Mate Scotty McTavishA sailor falls in love with the admiral's daughter but finds they can't marry because of his...
Movie page
The Wanderer
as TolaJether, a shepherd, is lured from his home by Tisha, priestess of the goddess Ishtar. He...
Movie page
Sherlock Holmes
as Professor James MoriartyMoriarty is sentenced to death, and Sherlock Holmes prepares to retire to the country and marry...
Movie page
Night Life of New York
as John BentleyJohn Bentley hates New York City, because of an unhappy romance as a young man, but his son,...
Movie page
The Side Show of Life
as Andrew LackadyAn English circus clown finds he's lost his touch after returning from war.
Movie page
North of 36
as Jim NaboursA young woman inherits her father's large Texas ranch and plans to begin a cattle drive to...
Movie page