Milton Sills
From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
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The Great Moment
as Bayard DelavalSir Edward Pelham, married to a Russian Gypsy, fears that his daughter will follow in her...
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The Valley of the Giants
as Bryce CardiganBryce Cardigan struggles to protect his Redwood inheritance from a railroad-owner, who is also...
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The Forgotten Law
as Richard JarnetteMargaret Jarnette discovers that her husband Victor has been cheating on her and confronts him....
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Burning Daylight
as Elam 'Burning Daylight' HarnishElam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson,...
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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
as Self (archive footage)A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life,...
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The Honor System
as Joseph StantonA potentially lost film, this film tells the story of a man is convicted unjustly of a crime and...
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The Making of O'Malley
as O'MalleyA policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his...
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One Clear Call
as Dr. Alan HamiltonAn outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only...
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His Captive Woman
as uncreditedCabaret dancer Anna Janssen kills her sugardaddy and escapes to a South Seas island on the yacht...
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Miss Lulu Bett
as Neil CornishLois Wilson (as Lulu) is the spinsterish member of the Deacon family: "The family beast of...
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As Man Desires
as Major John CraigThe story of a man who was robbed of his greatest love and the South Seas wildflower who found...
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The Isle of Lost Ships
as Frank HowardA likely lost film, that tells the story of people and ships trapped in seaweed infested section...
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The Stronger Vow
as Juan EstudilloDuring the Easter Carnival, Dolores de Cordova flirts with Juan Estudillo, not knowing that he...
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The Sea Hawk
as Sir Oliver TressilianThe adventures of Oliver Tressilian, who goes from English gentry to galley slave to captain of...
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Seeing Stars
as SelfFirst National gala celebrity banquet with stars.
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Men of Steel
as Jan BokakJan Bokak is a self-educated steelworker who finds himself in the middle of a romantic triangle....
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The Hushed Hour
as Luke AppletonJudge Robert Appleton (Winter Hall) has led an exemplary life. His four children, however, fell...
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Adam's Rib
as Michael RamsayMichael Ramsay only has time for gathering his fortune in wheat. His wife seeks comfort...
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The Circus: Premiere
as SelfFootage from the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's 1928 film 'The Circus'.
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Eyes of Youth
as Louis AnthonyA young woman, confronted by four options for proceeding in her life, is granted the ability to...
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The Silent Lover
as Count Pierre TornalBased on the 1922 play Der Legionër by Lajos Biró.
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The Barker
as Nifty MillerA successful carnival barker deals with the arrival of his eager son, who he'd hoped would stay...
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Madonna of the Streets
as Reverend John MortonRev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus,...
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Patria
as Capt. Donald ParrSpies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United...
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The Sea Wolf
as 'Wolf' LarsenGeorge, Ruth and Humphrey go for a boat ride with Wolf Larsen.
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The Knockout
as Sandy DonlinA Lambert Hillyer silent romantic love triangle boxing sports lumberjack logging melodrama about...
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The Spoilers
as Roy GlennisterBased on the novel The Spoilers by Rex Beach.
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A Trip to Paramountown
as SelfDocumentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood,...
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The Woman Thou Gavest Me
as ConradMary Mac Neill (Katherine MacDonald), whose father (Theodore Roberts) marries her off to Lord...
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Man Trouble
as MacA hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in...
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The Street Called Straight
as Peter DevenantDirected by Wallace Worsley.
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The Sea Tiger
as Justin RamosSilent Film drama...now a lost film. Julian Ramos is a fisherman in the Canary Islands. As the...
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A Lady of Quality
as Gerald Mertoun, Duke of OsmondeClorinda Wildairs breaks off an affair with the unscrupulous Sir John Ozen to become engaged to...
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Flowing Gold
as Calvin GrayThe film deals with the Texas Oil Industry. A silent film, it was famously remade in 1940 with...
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Flaming Youth
as Cary ScottWhen Mona Frentiss dies, she has her confidante "Doctor Bobs" watch over her family, especially...
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The Yellow Ticket
as Julian RolfeAnna Mirrel, a young Jewish girl in Czarist Russia, is forced to degrade herself in order to...
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The Last Hour
as Steve ClineSteve Cline returns to the U.S. after earning his fortune in South America. He reads in the...
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The Hell Cat
as Sheriff Jack WebbPancha O'Brien, the beautiful and spirited daughter of an Irish ranch owner, is loved by two...
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Love and the Devil
as uncreditedA famous Venetian opera singer marries a rich, but very jealous man. After moving to London with...
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The Claw
as Major Anthony KinsellaClara Kimball Young stars as Mary Saurin, a British gentlewoman who journeys to South Africa to...
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Paradise
as TonyAfter a daredevil demonstration of aviator stunts, Anthony Fortescue-Stirling, more familiarly...
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At the End of the World
as Gordon DeaneThis dramatic adventure finds the flirtatious Cherry O'Day as the daughter of the Shanghai...
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What a Wife Learned
as Rudolph MartinA novelist's success causes a rift between her and her rancher husband.
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Under Southern Skies
as Burleigh MavorLelia Crofton, a Louisiana belle of the 1860s, loves Burleigh Mavor. By chance, she sees one of...
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Skin Deep
as Bud DoyleThe plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud...
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