Robert G. Vignola

Born: 1882-08-05

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.


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From the Manger to the Cross

as Judas
Released: 1912-10-03

The life of Jesus is played out in tableaux shot in the Holy Land.

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The Black Hand

as uncredited
Released: 1906-03-29

Two gang members send a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding money if he did not want his...

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The Lad from Old Ireland

as Man in Campaign Office
Released: 1910-11-23

A young man leaves Ireland for America, but doesn't forget home.

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The Colleen Bawn

as Mr. Corrigan
Released: 1911-10-16

A young Irish boy has fallen in love with a poor girl and wants to marry her, but his mother...

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Over the Hills to the Poor House

as uncredited
Released: 1908-06-26

The widowed elderly mother of three adult children, two sons and a daughter, wishing to relieve...

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The Vampire

as uncredited
Released: 1913-10-15

The story hinges on the redemption of a country boy, an artist, who has fallen among evil...

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The Scimitar of the Prophet

as Hadjji - a Mohammedan Priest
Released: 1913-04-11

While touring Egypt, Harris and his wife visit an old temple and are fascinated by a sacred...

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The War Correspondent

as Hal Martin - the Star Reporter
Released: 1913-03-08

Jack Fisher secures a position as reporter on a metropolitan daily and incurs the enmity of...

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Rory O'More

as Black William
Released: 1911-09-03

Based on the story of the real-life 17th Century Irish rebel and the eighteen century ballad...

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The Prosecuting Attorney

as The Criminal
Released: 1913-02-03

The prosecuting attorney's impassioned address clinches the conviction of the criminal who,...

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Shenandoah

as Undetermined Role
Released: 1913-07-04

Bronson Howard's Great Civil War Story in Three Reels, Featuring General Philip Sheridan's Ride...

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Railroad Raiders of '62

as Engineer
Released: 1911-06-15

Union raiders infiltrate Confederate territory by train. Early film version of the Civil War...

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Tragedy of the Desert

as The Flirtatious Malmoud Bey
Released: 1912-07-01

An English doctor based in Egypt finds his wife in the arms of a local diplomat, and in a...

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When Lovers Part

as uncredited
Released: 1910-12-23

A young couple’s love is forbidden by the girl’s father. He forces her to write a farewell...

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Ireland, the Oppressed

as Michael Dee
Released: 1912-12-14

The story of the Emerald Isle years ago. Showing the struggle against poverty, evictions by...

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The Little Gluers

as Darby O'Drive
Released: 1912-11-18

The Kerry Gow is a 1912 short

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The Show Girl's Glove

as uncredited
Released: 1914-06-22

Hampton, a broker, employs a detective to investigate Stella, a show girl, with whom his younger...

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An Arabian Tragedy

as Ayub Kashif
Released: 1912-06-19

Ayub Kashif becomes embittered toward his wife, Fatima, because their union has been childless....

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Captured by Bedouins

as Judge Barnett - the Father
Released: 1912-06-26

An American officer disguises himself as an Arab in order to rescue an American woman kidnapped...

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The Railroad Raiders of '62

as Railroad Engineer (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: 1915-03-20

Lockwood, the old, one-armed flagman at Lone Point, tells Helen and a young soldier of his...

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The Message of the Palms

as Uncle Tom - the Colonel's Servant
Released: 1913-02-26

Henry Strong, a young civil engineer, is placed in charge of a party which makes a preliminary...

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The Alien

as Paola
Released: 1913-05-07

Paolo, a skilled mechanic in a modler's factory in Italy, defends his friend Brocco, when the...

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The Wives of Jamestown

as Shamus O’Daly
Released: 1913-01-10

The romance between Bryan O'Sullivan and Lady Geraldine is broken when he unjusily suspects that...

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