Robert G. Vignola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert G. Vignola (born Rocco Giuseppe Vignola, August 5, 1882 – October 25, 1953) was an Italian-born American actor, screenwriter and film director in American cinema. One of the silent screen's most prolific directors, he made a handful of sound films in the early years of talkies but his career essentially ended in the silent era. Born at Trivigno, in the province of Potenza, Vignola left Italy with his family at the age of 3 and was raised in upstate New York. He made his acting debut at 19 performing in "Romeo and Juliet", with Eleanor Robson Belmont and Kyrle Bellew. He began his film career as an actor in 1906 with the short film The Black Hand, directed by Wallace McCutcheon and produced by Biograph Company, generally considered the film that launched the mafia genre. In 1907 he joined Kalem Studios, for which he made numerous movies. One of Vignola's most notable film roles was as Judas Iscariot in From the Manger to the Cross (1912), directed by Sidney Olcott, one of the most successful films of the period. Vignola directed 87 films, most notably The Vampire (1913), sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie, and Seventeen (1916), where Rudolph Valentino did an uncredited cameo. He had a long association directing the early movies of Pauline Frederick such as Audrey (1916) and Double Crossed (1917). His biggest success was the big-budget epic When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), starring Marion Davies, which achieved critical and commercial acclaim. Other films include Déclassée (1925), with the uncredited appearance of the then unknown Clark Gable; Broken Dreams (1933), which received a nomination for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival, and The Scarlet Letter (1934), the last film of Colleen Moore. Vignola died in Hollywood, California in 1953. He lived in a mansion at Whitley Heights owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's mistress Marion Davies was allowed to stay without him at Vignola's mansion, worried that she was having affairs and considering Vignola a trusted companion for her as he was homosexual. He was buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands, New York.
From the Manger to the Cross
as JudasThe life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.
Movie pageThe Black Hand
as uncreditedTwo gang members send a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding money if he did not want his...
Movie pageThe Lad from Old Ireland
as Man in Campaign OfficeA young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.
Movie pageThe Colleen Bawn
as Mr. CorriganA young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother...
Movie pageOver the Hills to the Poor House
as uncreditedThe widowed elderly mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, wishing to relieve...
Movie pageThe Vampire
as uncreditedThe story hinges on the redemption of a country boy, an artist, who has fallen among evil...
Movie pageThe Scimitar of the Prophet
as Hadjji - a Mohammedan PriestWhile touring Egypt, Harris and his wife visit an old temple and are fascinated by a sacred...
Movie pageThe War Correspondent
as Hal Martin - the Star ReporterJack Fisher secures a position as reporter on a metropolitan daily and incurs the enmity of...
Movie pageRory O'More
as Black WilliamBased on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad...
Movie pageThe Prosecuting Attorney
as The CriminalThe prosecuting attorney's impassioned address clinches the conviction of the criminal who,...
Movie pageShenandoah
as Undetermined RoleBronson Howard's Great Civil War Story in Three Reels, Featuring General Philip Sheridan's Ride...
Movie pageRailroad Raiders of '62
as EngineerUnion raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War...
Movie pageTragedy of the Desert
as The Flirtatious Malmoud BeyAn English doctor based in Egypt finds his wife in the arms of a local diplomat, and in a...
Movie pageWhen Lovers Part
as uncreditedA young couple’s love is forbidden by the girl’s father. He forces her to write a farewell...
Movie pageIreland, the Oppressed
as Michael DeeThe story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by...
Movie pageThe Show Girl's Glove
as uncreditedHampton, a broker, employs a detective to investigate Stella, a show girl, with whom his younger...
Movie pageAn Arabian Tragedy
as Ayub KashifAyub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless....
Movie pageCaptured by Bedouins
as Judge Barnett - the FatherAn American officer disguises himself as an Arab in order to rescue an American woman kidnapped...
Movie pageThe Railroad Raiders of '62
as Railroad Engineer (archive footage) (uncredited)Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his...
Movie pageThe Message of the Palms
as Uncle Tom - the Colonel's ServantHenry Strong, a young civil engineer, is placed in charge of a party which makes a preliminary...
Movie pageThe Alien
as PaolaPaolo, a skilled mechanic in a modler's factory in Italy, defends his friend Brocco, when the...
Movie pageThe Wives of Jamestown
as Shamus O’DalyThe romance between Bryan O'Sullivan and Lady Geraldine is broken when he unjusily suspects that...
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