Henry B. Walthall
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Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). In New York in 1901, Walthall won a role in Under Southern Skies by Charlotte Blair Parker. He performed in the play for three years, in New York and on tour. With the company of Henry Miller he gained recognition on Broadway in plays including Pippa Passes, The Only Way and William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide (1906–08). His fellow cast member James Kirkwood introduced Walthall to D. W. Griffith, and at the conclusion of that engagement, Walthall joined the Biograph Company.
His career in movies began in 1909 at Biograph Studios in New York with a leading role in the film A Convict's Sacrifice. This film also featured James Kirkwood, and was directed by D. W. Griffith, a director that played a huge part in Walthall's rise to stardom. As the industry grew in size and popularity, Griffith emerged as a director and Walthall found himself a mainstay of the Griffith company, frequently working alongside such Griffith regulars as Owen Moore, Kate Bruce, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mae Marsh, Bobby Harron and Jack and Mary Pickford. He followed Griffith's departure from New York's Biograph to California's Reliance-Majestic Studios in 1913. After a few months with Reliance, he joined Pathé for a short period.
He decided to go into the producing business and formed The Union Feature Film Company, the first to be devoted entirely to full-length films. The venture was not successful, however, and he again became associated with Griffith's company.
Given the relatively short length of films in the early years, Walthall frequently found himself cast in dozens of films each year. He gained national attention in 1915 for his role as Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's highly influential and controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation. Walthall's portrayal of a Confederate veteran rounding up the Ku Klux Klan won him large-scale fame, and Walthall was soon able to emerge as a leading actor in the years leading up to the 1920s, parting ways with Griffith.
Walthall continued working in films through the 1920s, appearing in The Plastic Age with Gilbert Roland and Clara Bow. He portrayed Roger Chillingworth in Victor Seastrom's 1926 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter opposite Lillian Gish.
Walthall continued his career into the 1930s. After his performance in director John Ford's 1934 film Judge Priest starring Will Rogers he enjoyed a golden period of his career. He portrayed Dr. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities (1935), starring Ronald Colman. In 1936 he appeared as Marcel in The Devil-Doll. He was gravely ill during his final film, China Clipper.
Frank Capra wanted Walthall to portray the High Lama in his 1937 film, Lost Horizon. "Frail and failing, he died before we could test him," Capra wrote.
Walthall has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.
Photos
Movies (218)
I Am Not a Racist
2019 · Ben (archive footage) (uncredited)
London After Midnight
2002 · Sir James Hamlin (archive footage)
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
1998 · Col. Ben Cameron (archive footage)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
1975 · Self (archive footage)
Los ojos del siglo (Volumen I)
1957 · Él mismo (material de archivo)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942 · Self (archive footage)
China Clipper
1936 · Dad Brunn
The Devil-Doll
1936 · Marcel
The Last Outlaw
1936 · Cal Yates
Hearts in Bondage
1936 · Capt. Buchanan
The Mine with the Iron Door
1936 · David Burton
The Garden Murder Case
1936 · Dr. Garden
A Tale of Two Cities
1935 · Dr. Manette
Dante's Inferno
1935 · Pop McWade
Helldorado
1935 · Abner Meadows
Love Time
1934 · Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
A Girl of the Limberlost
1934 · Dr. Amon
The Lemon Drop Kid
1934 · Jonas Deering
The Scarlet Letter
1934 · Roger Chillingworth
Judge Priest
1934 · Reverend Ashby Brand
The Murder in the Museum
1934 · Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
City Park
1934 · Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
Viva Villa!
1934 · Francisco Madero
Men in White
1934 · enry B. Walthall
Beggars in Ermine
1934 · Marchant the Blind Man
Dark Hazard
1934 · Schultz
The Sin of Nora Moran
1933 · Father Ryan
The Wolf Dog
1933 · Jim Courtney
Her Forgotten Past
1933 · Mr. Maynard
Headline Shooter
1933 · Judge Beacon (uncredited)
The Flaming Signal
1933 · Rev. Mr. James
Hold Your Man
1933 · Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
Somewhere in Sonora
1933 · Bob Leadly
The Whispering Shadow
1933 · J. D. Bradley
42nd Street
1933 · Concerned Actor (uncredited)
Strange Interlude
1932 · Professor Leeds
Self Defense
1932 · Doctor Borden
Central Park
1932 · Eby
Me and My Gal
1932 · Sarge
The Cabin in the Cotton
1932 · Eph Clinton
Klondike
1932 · Mark Armstrong
Ride Him, Cowboy
1932 · John Gaunt
Chandu the Magician
1932 · Robert Regent
Alias Mary Smith
1932 · Atwell
Hotel Continental
1932 · Winthrop
Police Court
1932 · Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
Anybody's Blonde
1931 · Mr. Evans
Is There Justice?
1931 · District Attorney John Raymond
Tol'able David
1930 · Amos Hatburn
Abraham Lincoln
1930 · Colonel Marshall
The Love Trader
1930 · Captain Adams
Temple Tower
1930 · Blackton
Blaze o' Glory
1929 · Burke
The Trespasser
1929 · Fuller
The Phantom in the House
1929 · Boyd Milburn
In Old California
1929 · Don Pedro De León
Black Magic
1929 · Dr. Bradbroke
The River of Romance
1929 · General Jeff Rumford
From Headquarters
1929 · Buffalo Bill Ryan
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1929 · Father Juniper
Speakeasy
1929 · Piano player
Stark Mad
1929 · Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
The Jazz Age
1929 · Mr Maxwell
Freedom of the Press
1928 · John Ballard
Retribution
1928 · Henry / Tommy Mooney
London After Midnight
1927 · Sir James Hamlin
A Light in the Window
1927 · Johann Graff
Love Me and the World Is Mine
1927 · Van Denbosch
Wings
1927 · Mr. Armstrong
Fighting Love
1927 · Filipo Navarro
The Scarlet Letter
1927 · Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
Everybody's Acting
1926 · Thorpe
The Road to Mandalay
1926 · Father James
The Unknown Soldier
1926 · John Phillips
The Barrier
1926 · Gale Gaylord
Three Faces East
1926 · George Bennett
The Plastic Age
1925 · Henry Carver
Dollar Down
1925 · Alec Craig
Kentucky Pride
1925 · Mr. Beaumont
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
1925 · Dr. Samuel Webb
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work
1925 · William Hale
The Golden Bed
1925 · Col. Peake
Single Wives
1924 · Franklin Dexter
The Woman on the Jury
1924 · Prosecuting Attorney
Boy of Mine
1923 · William Latimer
The Unknown Purple
1923 · Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
Gimme
1923 · John McGimsey
The Face on the Barroom Floor
1923 · Robert Stevens
The Long Chance
1922 · Harley P. Hennage
The Kickback
1922 · Aaron Price
One Clear Call
1922 · Henry Garnett
The Able-Minded Lady
1922 · Breezy Bright
Flower of the North
1921 · Philip Whitemore
A Splendid Hazard
1920 · Karl Breitman
Parted Curtains
1920 · Joe Jenkins
The Confession
1920 · Father Bartlett
The Long Arm of Mannister
1919 · George Mannister
The Boomerang
1919 · George Gray
Modern Husbands
1919 · Stephen Duane
The False Faces
1919 · Michael Lanyard
The Long Lane's Turning
1919 · Harry Sevier
The Great Love
1918 · Sir Roger Brighton
Humdrum Brown
1918 · Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
His Robe of Honor
1918 · Julian Randolph
Pillars of Society
1916 · Karsten Bernick
The Sting of Victory
1916 · David Whiting / Walker Whiting
The Strange Case of Mary Page
1916 · Phil Langdon, Attorney
The Misleading Lady
1916 · Jack Craiger
The Raven
1915 · Edgar Allan Poe
The Outer Edge
1915 · Dr. Rownlee
The Circular Path
1915 · Reverend Darwin Kirby
Temper
1915 · Frank Bradbury
Ghosts
1915 · Captain Alving / Oswald
The Birth of a Nation
1915 · Col. Ben Cameron, Assistant Director
Rod of Wrath
1915 · Erickson's Son
The Odalisque
1914 · Joe, in love with May
The Avenging Conscience
1914 · The Nephew
Lord Chumley
1914 · Lord Chumley
Home, Sweet Home
1914 · John Howard Payne
The Mountain Rat
1914 · Douglas Williams
The Old Man
1914 · The Old Man
The Mysterious Shot
1914 · The Gopher
The Floor Above
1914 · Stephen Pryde
Judith of Bethulia
1914 · Holofernes
Strongheart
1914 · Soangataha / Strongheart
The Green-Eyed Devil
1914
Classmates
1914 · Duncan Irving
The Gangsters of New York
1914 · Porky Dugan
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
1914 · The President of the Republic
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
1913 · The Indian Chief's Son
A Woman in the Ultimate
1913 · Badger Gang Member
Two Men of the Desert
1913 · First Partner
The Mirror
1913 · The Station Agent
During the Round-Up
1913 · The Stranger
A Gambler's Honor
1913 · Beth's Brother
Her Mother's Oath
1913 · The Actor
The Switchtower
1913 · The Switchman
Death's Marathon
1913 · The Husband
The Stolen Loaf
1913 · The Poor Man
The Tenderfoot's Money
1913 · The Prospector
The Wanderer
1913 · The Wanderer
If We Only Knew
1913 · The Father
The Lady and the Mouse
1913 · The First Rival
The Little Tease
1913 · The Valley Man
The Perfidy of Mary
1913 · The Poet
The Sheriff's Baby
1913 · First Bandit
Broken Ways
1913 · The Road Agent
Love in an Apartment Hotel
1913 · The Young Woman's Fiance
Oil and Water
1913 · The Idealist
Three Friends
1913 · The Husband
The God Within
1912 · The Woodsman
The Burglar’s Dilemma
1912 · The Householder's Weakling Brother
My Hero
1912 · Indian Charlie
Brutality
1912 · Actor In Oliver Twist
The Informer
1912 · The False Brother
My Baby
1912 · The Husband
The One She Loved
1912 · The Husband
In the Aisles of the Wild
1912 · Jim Watson
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
1912 · A Psalm Singer
So Near, Yet So Far
1912 · In Club
Friends
1912 · Dandy Jack
Two Daughters of Eve
1912 · The Father
For His Sake
1911
Souls Courageous
1911
The Command from Galilee
1911 · The Lover
Where the Sea and the Shore Doth Meet
1910
The Armorer’s Daughter
1910 · Macennas
In the Gray of the Dawn
1910
The Iconoclast
1910
Rose o' Salem Town
1910 · The Trapper
The Oath and the Man
1910 · Henri Prevost
In Life's Cycle
1910 · Vincent, as an Adult
A Summer Idyll
1910
Wilful Peggy
1910 · The Lord
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful
1910 · Bill
The Usurer
1910 · One of the Second Debtors
The House with Closed Shutters
1910 · Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
The Call to Arms
1910 · The Lord
A Flash of Light
1910 · Younger John Rogers
The Face at the Window
1910 · Ralph Bradford
In the Border States
1910 · Confederate Corporal
A Child of the Ghetto
1910 · The Farmer
Ramona
1910 · Alessandro
The Two Brothers
1910 · Pedro
Love Among the Roses
1910 · The Lord
The Gold Seekers
1910 · The Prospector
The Way of the World
1910
The Tenderfoot's Triumph
1910 · A Horse Thief
Thou Shalt Not
1910
The Kid
1910 · Walter Holden
Gold Is Not All
1910 · Man at Party
The Converts
1910
In Old California
1910 · Perdita's Son
The Thread of Destiny
1910 · Estrada
The Newlyweds
1910 · A Friend / At Station Reception
His Last Burglary
1910 · William Standish
The Cloister’s Touch
1910 · The Father
The Honor of His Family
1910 · George Pickett Jr.
The Call
1910 · Billy Harvey
On the Reef
1910 · Mr. Wilson
The Heart of an Outlaw
1909 · The Mexican Lover
The Day After
1909 · Party Guest
In Little Italy
1909 · Victor Ratazzi
A Trap for Santa Claus
1909 · Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
A Corner in Wheat
1909 · Wheat King's Assistant
Fools of Fate
1909
Pippa Passes
1909
In Old Kentucky
1909 · Robert, the Confederate son
The Broken Locket
1909 · Mexican Man
Getting Even
1909 · Miner
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
1909
The Sealed Room
1909 · The Troubador
The Little Darling
1909 · In Boarding House
Pranks
1909 · Sunbather
They Would Elope
1909
The Mended Lute
1909 · Indian
A Strange Meeting
1909 · A Thief
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
1908 · Woodsman
TV shows (0)
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