William Desmond

Born: 1878-01-23

Starting out in dramatic parts, Desmond soon switched to westerns and action serials, and became a major western star. When the sound era began Desmond was almost 50 years old, and was soon relegated to supporting roles.


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Phantom of the Opera

as Stagehand (uncredited)
Released: 1943-08-12

Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin...

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Phantom Lady

as Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Released: 1944-01-28

A mystery woman is a murder suspect's only alibi for the night of his wife's death.

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The Egg and I

as Spectator at Country Dance (Uncredited)
Released: 1947-05-01

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and...

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The Mummy's Ghost

as Museum Tourist (uncredited)
Released: 1944-07-07

An Egyptian high priest travels to America to reclaim the bodies of ancient Egyptian princess...

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Thank Your Lucky Stars

as Gower Gulch Cowboy (uncredited)
Released: 1943-09-25

An Eddie Cantor look-alike organizes an all-star show to help the war effort.

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Naughty Marietta

as Gendarme Chief (uncredited)
Released: 1935-03-29

In order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and...

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Frisco Kid

as Vigilante Hangman (uncredited)
Released: 1935-11-30

After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him...

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The Naughty Nineties

as Showboat Customer (uncredited)
Released: 1945-06-20

In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first...

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Desert Command

as Capt. Boncour
Released: 1946-05-31

Tom Wayne rescues Clancy, Renard and Schmidt in the Arabian desert and they join him in going...

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The Vanishing Shadow

as MacDonald
Released: 1934-04-22

A 12-episode serial in which a son avenges the death of his father at the hands of corrupt...

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The Climax

as Backstage Technician (Uncredited)
Released: 1944-10-20

Dr. Hohner, theatre physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, murders his mistress, the star...

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The Boys from Syracuse

as Citizen
Released: 1940-07-30

The action takes place in Ephesus in ancient Asia Minor, and the concerns The efforts of two...

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The Three Musketeers

as Capt. Boncour
Released: 1933-04-07

Tom Wayne rescues Clancy, Renard and Schmidt in the Arabian desert and they join him in going...

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Gordon of Ghost City

as John Mulford
Released: 1933-08-13

A cowboy is hired to track down a gang of rustlers, but gets involved with a beautiful girl...

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The Vigilantes Are Coming

as Anderson, Vigilante Member
Released: 1936-08-21

A masked hero called "The Eagle" leads California ranchers in a struggle against Russian...

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Courage of the North

as Gene Travis
Released: 1935-09-01

A Mountie (John Preston) catches fur thieves with the help of his horse, Dynamite, and dog, Captain.

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Night Life in Hollywood

as Self
Released: 1922-11-15

A picture depicting the engrossing adventures of a small town youth in Hollywood and showing the...

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Battling with Buffalo Bill

as John Mills
Released: 1931-11-22

A western adventure serial in 12 episodes. Buffalo Bill battles gambler Jim Rodney who is trying...

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The Rawhide Terror

as Tom Blake
Released: 1934-03-19

Twelve renegades dressed as Indians kill the parents of two brothers. The brothers who have...

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Born to Battle

as John Brownell
Released: 1935-04-01

Good-natured troublemaker "Cyclone" Tom Saunders is hired by a ranchers' association manager to...

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The Roaring West

as Jim Parker
Released: 1935-07-08

A 15-episode serial involving the land rush, gold mines, stolen maps, etc.

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Junior G-Men

as Irish Cop (uncredited)
Released: 1940-11-01

A gang of urban street kids and a club of suburban would-be federal agents, at first rivals,...

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The Prince and Betty

as John Maude
Released: 1919-12-21

Young American John Maude is forced to find a job when he falls in love with society girl Betty...

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Song of the Saddle

as Tim
Released: 1936-02-28

Frank Sr. sells his supplies to Hook, but then Hook has the Bannion Boys bushwhack his wagon to...

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A Sage Brush Hamlet

as Larry Lang
Released: 1919-08-03

Larry Lang is out to get desperado Claude Dutton (Ed Piel), the man who killed his father, which...

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Heroes of the West

as John Blaine
Released: 1932-06-19

Efforts to build a transcontinental railroad are resisted by crooks and Indians on the warpath....

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The Cowboy and the Bandit

as Sheriff Pete
Released: 1935-04-02

Bill travels to a new state after the outlaw Scarface saves him from a lynch mob. There he takes...

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The Extra Girl

as Himself
Released: 1923-10-28

Sue Graham is a small town girl who wants to be a motion picture star. She wins a contract when...

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The Extra Girl

as Himself - Actor
Released: 1923-10-28

Sue Graham is a small town girl who wants to be a motion picture star. She wins a contract when...

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Cyclone of the Saddle

as Wagon Master
Released: 1935-04-03

Sent by the Army, Andy Thomas poses as a renegade to find out who has been harassing the wagon...

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Strange Confession

as Peanut Vendor (uncredited)
Released: 1945-10-05

A scientist who is working on a cure for influenza is victimized by his unscrupulous boss, who...

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The Silver Bullet

as Townsman
Released: 1942-08-05

A cowboy heads for the town where his father was murdered to find out who was responsible.

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The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

as Captain of the 'Viking'
Released: 1936-01-13

A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for...

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Treachery Rides the Range

as Bill
Released: 1936-05-02

The Indians need the Buffalo to survive and the Government has promised to keep the herds free...

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Thunder Mountain

as Townsman (uncredited)
Released: 1947-06-01

Marvin Hayden returns to find his ranch is about to be sold at auction and the Hayden Jorth feud...

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Powdersmoke Range

as Happy - Bartender
Released: 1935-09-27

Three cowboys buy a ranch but have to fight off gunmen to keep it.

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The Majesty of the Law

as Jackson Morgan Kent
Released: 1915-08-26

The story of a Virginia judge who sternly hands down severe sentences while in court only to...

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Ridin' Pretty

as Sky Parker
Released: 1925-02-22

A red-blooded romance of a millionaire cowboy and a city girl with stirring chase after a racing...

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Overland Mail

as Williams - Banker
Released: 1942-09-22

Two investigators for a stagecoach company are assigned to find out why the company's stages...

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Cheyenne Roundup

as Pete
Released: 1943-04-12

Johnny Mack Brown's Universal western series was drawing to a close when Cheyenne Roundup was...

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Code of the West

as Settler (uncredited)
Released: 1947-02-20

Knowing the railroad is coming, Carter is after the rancher's land. Bob and Chito return just in...

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The Red Rider

as Sheriff Campbell
Released: 1934-07-16

"Red" Davison(Buck Jones), the sheriff of Sun Dog, sacrifices his job and his good name to save...

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The Lightning Warrior

as Townsman (uncredited)
Released: 1931-11-01

A Rin-Tin-Tin serial presented in 12 episodes. The mysterious Wolf Man is terrorizing settlers...

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Hollywood Boulevard

as Pago Pago Patron (uncredited)
Released: 1936-08-20

With a full Hollywood background and settings but more an expose of scandal-and-gossip magazines...

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Perils of Pauline

as Prof. Thompson
Released: 1933-11-05

A famous scientist and his beautiful daughter travel to Indochina to find an ivory disc that has...

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The Strings of Steel

as Ned Brown
Released: 1926-06-28

The Strings of Steel is a silent Action serial. Episode titles: 1. The Voice on the Wire 2. The...

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Oklahoma Jim

as Lacy
Released: 1931-10-10

A gambler sets out to help a pretty young woman save her trading post.

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When Lightning Strikes

as Marshal Jack Stevens
Released: 1934-12-18

Lightning the German Shepherd dog stars in this wilderness melodrama.

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Headin' for the Rio Grande

as Mr. Mack (cattle buyer)
Released: 1936-01-01

Western - Singing cowboy Tex Saunders (Tex Ritter) finds himself in a heap of trouble when he...

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The Way of the West

as 'Cash' Horton (as Wm. Desmond)
Released: 1934-10-14

Government agent Gordon, working undercover, is investigating a cattleman sheepman war. The...

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Barriers of the Law

as Rex Brandon
Released: 1925-03-26

When a woman who belongs to a bootlegging gang asks the gang for help when her father is...

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Laughing at Life

as Military Cabinet Officer
Released: 1933-07-12

Easter, a soldier of fortune and gunrunner, leaves his family behind escaping from the...

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Border Guns

as Dr. Jim Wilson
Released: 1934-02-01

A cowboy drifting around the border gets mixed up with Mexican revolutionary gun smuggling when...

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The Phantom of the Air

as Thomas Edmonds
Released: 1933-05-21

An adventure serial presented in 12 chapters. Inventor Thomas Edmunds uses a super plane, 'The...

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The Vanishing Legion

as Milesburg Sheriff
Released: 1931-06-01

A mysterious master criminal known as The Voice plots with his gang to sabotage the Milesburg...

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Peer Gynt

as The Parson
Released: 1915-09-15

A fantasy from Ibsen's verse drama. Ne'er-do-well and braggart Peer Gynt has many adventures in...

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Tim Tyler's Luck

as Dock Official
Released: 1937-12-27

A 12-episode serial in which Tim Tyler goes to Africa in search of his father in gorilla...

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Pirate Treasure

as Capt. Jim Carson
Released: 1934-01-29

An accomplished aviator sets out to locate treasure hidden by one of his ancestors. He...

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Custer's Last Stand

as Wagon Master
Released: 1936-01-02

Kit Cardigan seeks the killer of his father...among other plot threads leading up to the famous...

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The Ghost Rider

as Guard
Released: 1935-04-07

Jim Bullard escapes from prison and returns to settle matters with the Rascob's that framed him....

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Song of the Gringo

as Bailiff
Released: 1936-11-22

In his film debut Ritter is sent to investigate miners being killed and their mines confiscated....

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The Return of the Durango Kid

as Street Ambusher (uncredited)
Released: 1945-04-19

A masked outlaw steals from bank robbers to help the poor.

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Winners of the West

as Bill Brine
Released: 1940-07-02

Beyond Hell's Gate Pass is territory controlled by a man who calls himself King Carter; he uses...

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Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

as Bartender
Released: 1941-03-21

A young mining engineer sets out to catch the killers of both his brother and a beautiful young...

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Savage Fury

as Allen (archive footage)
Released: 1956-01-01

Separately released feature version of the 1935 Serial, Call of the Savage.

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Peggy

as Rev. Donald Bruce
Released: 1916-01-02

The heroine, Peggy Cameron, is a high-society debutante with a mind of her own. After making a...

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Outwitted

as Jack Blaisdel
Released: 1925-01-01

After being captured by T-Man Jack Blaisdell and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor on a...

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Master of His Home

as Carson Stewart
Released: 1917-08-12

Unhappy with her daughter's choice to marry a miner instead of her choice, a man of wealth, a...

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Society for Sale

as Honorable Billy
Released: 1918-04-21

Successful model, Phyllis Clyne, convinces a down-and-out nobleman, Billy, to pass her off in...

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The Vanishing Rider

as Jim Davis / The Vanishing Rider
Released: 1928-01-16

William Desmond plays Jim Davis, a secret service agent by day and masked avenger by night....

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Where Did You Get That Girl?

as Tourist
Released: 1941-01-03

In this musical comedy, a motley band of musicians have only their extreme poverty in common....

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A Gamble in Souls

as uncredited
Released: 1916-12-09

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Perils of the Yukon

as Jack Merrill Sr. / Jack Merrill Jr.
Released: 1922-07-24

A silent serial with the following chapter titles: 1. Fangs of Jealous; 2. Doomed; 3. Tricked by...

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The Last Frontier

as General Custer
Released: 1932-09-04

A frontier newspaper editor Kirby battles outlaw Tiger Morris who is causing indian uprisings to...

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Down Rio Grande Way

as Townsman
Released: 1942-04-23

Slightly more elaborate than most Charles Starrett westerns, Down Rio Grande Way is set in the...

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The Call of the Savage

as Allen
Released: 1935-04-14

Two competing teams of scientists search the African jungles for a secret formula.

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Frontier Days

as Sheriff Barnes
Released: 1934-11-14

Henry Jethrow is after the Wilson ranch. He has George Wilson unknowningly sign a note for the...

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The Phantom of the West

as Martin Blair
Released: 1930-11-10

A young man's father is murdered and the man convicted of the crime escapes prison, leaving a...

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Social Error

as Policeman
Released: 1935-04-30

A wild college student gets in fights, steals cars, is caught by the police and finally expelled...

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The Dawn Maker

as Bruce Smithson
Released: 1916-09-23

Half-breed Joe Elk wavers between the "civilized" nature of his white father and the passion of...

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Women Men Love

as David Hunter
Released: 1921-01-09

Prosperous architect David Hunter, lives with his wife Evelyn, who loves gambling and...

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Clancy of the Mounted

as Dave Moran
Released: 1933-02-27

A Canadian Mountie is assigned to bring in his brother, who was framed for the murder of a gold...

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The Rustler's Roundup

as San Dimas Sheriff Holden
Released: 1933-03-16

Winters is after the Brand ranch, and his man Brett who is foreman there is rustling the Brand...

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McGuire of the Mounted

as Bob McGuire
Released: 1923-07-08

A film about a man named McGuire of the Royal Mounted Police.

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Mr. Broadway

as 1st Suitor (archive footage)
Released: 1933-09-12

Ed Sullivan shows night spots all over New York in this movie, joking and listening to stories...

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The Mystery Rider

as Winthrop Lane / The Mystery Rider
Released: 1928-11-25

Silent cowboy Western serial.

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A Scarlet Week-End

as uncredited
Released: 1932-11-30

A woman's cheating husband is murdered at their country estate, and suspicion immediately falls...

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Kilmeny

as Bob Meredith
Released: 1915-07-22

Little Doris Calhoun, of a wealthy English family, makes a playmate of Pierre, a crippled gypsy...

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The Child Thou Gavest Me

as Tom Marshall
Released: 1921-08-20

On her wedding day, Norma Huntley wants to tell Edward Berkley, her husband-to-be, her secret --...

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Fargo Express

as Sheriff Joe Thompson
Released: 1933-11-20

When Mort loses his and Ken's money at poker, Goss gets him to rob the stage. He is captured,...

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The Sunset Trail

as Happy Hobo
Released: 1924-11-02

On a passenger train passing through the desert, Louise offers to pay the fares of Happy Hobo...

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Rustlers of Red Dog

as Ira Dale [Chs. 1-4, 6, 10-12]
Released: 1935-01-01

A movie serial in 12 chapters: After gold is discovered in the town of Nugget, the titular band...

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The Meddler

as Richard Gilmore
Released: 1925-06-28

Richard Gilmore, a staid Wall Street broker, is jilted by Dot Parkhurst when he fails to provide...

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No Defense

as John Harper
Released: 1929-04-05

No Defense is a 1929 romantic drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Monte Blue. It was a...

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The Iced Bullet

as The Author / Horace Lee
Released: 1917-01-21

A "scientific detective" story about the attempted murder of a wealthy New Yorker in his...

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Fightin' Mad

as Bud McGraw
Released: 1921-11-20

Returning to his father's cattle ranch after the excitement of serving in combat overseas, Bud...

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Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery

as Foreman Burke
Released: 1935-10-20

A 12-episode serial in which Tailspin Tommy evades volcanoes, anti-aircraft shells, and time...

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Strawberry Roan

as Colonel Brownlee
Released: 1933-10-26

Ken Maynard stars as a roving cowboy who tells the tale of taming the stallion that inspired the...

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The Burning Trail

as Smiling Bill Flannigan
Released: 1925-05-10

A professional boxer known as "Smiling Bill Flannigan" accidentally kills an opponent in the...

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I Can't Escape

as Parole Officer Donovan
Released: 1934-07-04

An ex-convict, unable to get a good job because of his prison record, gets mixed up in a phony...

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The Lone Star Trail

as Bartender Mike
Released: 1943-08-06

Rancher Blaze Barker returns to Dead Falls after being framed by land-grabbers and spending two...

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Shadows of the North

as Ben 'Wolf' Darby
Released: 1923-08-27

Ben Darby and Pancake, his father, are owners of a mining claim in Northwest Canada. Ben goes to...

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The Policeman and the Baby

as The Policeman
Released: 1921-09-04

A crook returns home to find his mother dead and about to be buried in Potters Field. This...

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No Children

as Self
Released: 1929-03-10

Parents pretend they are in show business and their kids are ventriloquist dummies.

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Straight Through

as Good Deed O'Day
Released: 1925-04-05

O'Day, the terror of Red Gulch, wins the entire stake of a gambler named Granger in a poker game...

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Married in Name Only

as uncredited
Released: 1917-10-01

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Flying Colors

as Brent Brewster
Released: 1917-09-23

Brent Brewster, formerly a Yale athlete known for his pole vaulting prowess, is unsuccessful in...

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The Breathless Moment

as Billy Carson
Released: 1924-02-03

Unwilling to arrest Billy Carson, a crook who once befriended him, Officer Quinn forces him and...

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