Wilfred Lucas
Actor · 1871 – 1940 · Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wilfred Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian-born American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter. Wilfred Lucas made his Broadway debut in 1904, playing in both the The Blue Grass Handicap and The Superstition of Sue. Following his 1906 role in the highly successful play The Chorus Lady, he was recruited to the fledgling Biograph Studios by D. W. Griffith. At the time, the film business was still looked down upon by many members of the theatrical community. In her 1925 book titled When the Movies Were Young, Griffith's wife, actress Linda Arvidson, told the story of the early days at Biograph Studios. In it, she referred to Lucas as the "first real grand actor, democratic enough to work in Biograph movies." In 1908 Lucas made his motion picture debut in Griffith's The Greaser's Gauntlet, appearing in more than 50 of these short (usually 17 minutes) films over the next two years. In 1910 while still acting, he wrote the script for Griffith's film Sunshine Sue, which was followed by many more scripts by 1924. Lucas also began directing in 1912 with Griffith on An Outcast Among Outcasts, and directed another 44 films over the next 20 years. In early 1916 he starred as John Carter in Acquitted, about which Photoplay wrote, "No single performance in the records of active photography has surpassed his visualization of the humble book-keeper in Acquitted." Later in 1916 he appeared in D.W. Griffith's film Intolerance. Part of the group of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, Lucas became friends and sometimes starred with Mary Pickford, Sam De Grasse, and Marie Dressler. Canadian-born director Mack Sennett hired him to both direct and act in a large number of films at his Keystone Studios. Lucas made the successful transition from silent film to sound. While working in Hollywood, in 1926 he returned to the stage, performing in several Broadway plays. He later appeared as a foil for Laurel and Hardy in their feature films Pardon Us and A Chump at Oxford. During his long career, Wilfred Lucas appeared in more than 375 films. Although for a time he was cast in leading roles, he became very successful as secondary and minor characters, making a good living in the film industry for more than three decades.
Movies24
Movie8.3ComedyDramaA bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...
Modern Times
1936 · 4.2K votes
Movie7.8ComedyDramaAfter the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 · 1.2K votes
Movie7.5DramaRomanceOn the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.
Waterloo Bridge
1940 · 184 votes
Movie7.1DramaHistoryThe story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
1916 · 390 votes
Movie7.2AdventureDramaShipwrecked fugitives try to escape a brutal sea captain who's losing his mind.
The Sea Wolf
1941 · 71 votes
Movie6.1HistoryDramaThe queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.
Cleopatra
1934 · 102 votes
Movie5.8WesternAs a penalty for fighting fellow classmates days before graduating from West Point, J.E.B. Stuart, George Armstrong Custer and four friends are assigned to the 2nd Cavalry, stationed at Fort Leavenworth. While there they aid in the capture and execution of the abolitionist, John Brown following the Battle of Harper's Ferry.
Santa Fe Trail
1940 · 66 votes
Movie6.8ComedyMusicTwo wannabe bandits join the service of a dashing nobleman, who secretly masquerades as Fra Diavolo, a notorious outlaw.
The Devil's Brother
1933 · 71 votes
Movie6.9WesternIn this epic Western, Wade Hatton, a wagon master turned sheriff, tames a cow town at the end of a railroad line.
Dodge City
1939 · 113 votes
Movie6.4ComedyIt's Prohibition, and the boys wind up behind bars after Stan sells some of their home-brew beer to a policeman.
Pardon Us
1931 · 94 votes
Movie6.9DramaHistoryAfter healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth — responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln — Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, considered part of the atrocious conspiracy, is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the sinister Shark Island Prison.
The Prisoner of Shark Island
1936 · 62 votes
Movie5.5MusicRomanceIn order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and escapes to colonial New Orleans, where she finds an unlikely true love.
Naughty Marietta
1935 · 24 votes
Movie6.9ComedyThe boys get jobs as a butler and maid-- Stan in drag-- for a dinner party. When that ends in disaster, they resort to sweeping streets and accidentally capture a bank robber. The grateful bank president sends them to Oxford, at their request, and higher-education hijinks ensue.
A Chump at Oxford
1940 · 115 votes
Movie6.9DramaCrimeJoe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
They Drive by Night
1940 · 139 votes
Movie6.9DramaWarThe Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
Dishonored
1931 · 79 votes
Movie5.3ComedyDramaA Butler gets elected to the Hungarian parliament where he opposes his master's government.
The Baroness and the Butler
1938 · 16 votes
Movie5.1DramaNaval commander Charles Sturm has made life miserable for his wife Diana due to his insane jealousy over every man she speaks to. His obsessive behavior soon drives her to the arms of a handsome lieutenant. When Charles learns of their affair, he plots revenge.
Devil and the Deep
1932 · 16 votes
Movie6.8HistoryDramaIn flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.
Edison, the Man
1940 · 27 votes
Movie6.8CrimeDramaA corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Each Dawn I Die
1939 · 64 votes
Movie10.0DramaThe queen of a mythical European nation flees to America when a general threatens to overthrow her government.
Jazzmania
1923 · 1 votes
Movie7.0CrimeDramaMembers of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.
The Mayor of Hell
1933 · 33 votes
Movie5.9RomanceMusicA socialite masquerades as a notorious femme fatale to win back her straying husband during a costume party aboard a doomed dirigible.
Madam Satan
1930 · 28 votes
Movie6.3WesternRomanceUnion officer Kerry Bradford escapes from a Confederate prison and races to intercept $5 million in gold destined for Confederate coffers. A Confederate sympathizer and a Mexican bandit, each with their own stake in the loot, stand in his way.
Virginia City
1940 · 40 votes
Movie3.0DramaOlive Borden plays a modern jazz maiden who is forced to be good for six months or lose out on her grandfather's inheritance.
Hello Sister
1930 · 3 votes