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Silver Screen, Silent Film

The early days of moving pictures drew talent from stage actors who brought their silent, larger-than-life performances to the silver screen. Their exaggerated expressions hardly looked natural when expanded to several feet square. As stated by character Norma Desmond in the movie Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!”

Following are eight of the most memorable faces of the silent film era.

Mary Louise Brooks epitomized the 1920s flapper with her sharply cut bob she made popular among women across the continent. Her most famous movies, filmed in Europe, include Pandora’s Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté (1930). She starred in a total 0f 17 silent films and eight “talkies” before retiring from acting in 1935.

Swedish beauty Greta Garbo’s star rose on the the strength of her ability to appear both strong and vulnerable and ascended even higher when her first sound film was released. Critics consider Flesh and the Devil (1926) her greatest film.

Known by his stage name, Frenchman Max Linder directed his talents to acting, directing, screenwriting, and movie production. Called the first international movie star and admired by the famed Charlie Chaplin, Linder was seriously wounded in World War I and suffered from depression afterward. With Chaplin’s assistance, he continued his acting career, making two more classic films, Seven Years Bad Luck and The Three Must-Get-Theres, a parody on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel The Three Musketeers.

Movie buffs recognize Charlie Chaplin as one of the greatest comedic actors of all time. His trademark bowler hat, baggy pants, oversized boots, mustache, and odd gait made him both famous and wealthy. He opened his own movie studio and produced feature films such as The Kid, The Gold Rush, and City Lights. Chaplin is said to be the only Hollywood movie star with sufficient clout to ignore the innovation of movies with sound.

Harold Lloyd started acting in films as a teenage boy and, in 1917, developed a persona that endured his entire career: that of the somewhat naive, middle class everyman. Contrary to that persona, Lloyd owned everything he produced and used his fierce drive and intelligence to build a vast fortune. His most famous silent movie is Safety Last (1923), which demonstrated his deft hand at character and comedy.

Although her most devoted fans preferred her cast in ingenue roles, Mary Pickford starred alongside the biggest screen stars of her time in adult roles. She commanded the largest weekly salary of any actor at the height of her career and was once offered $250,000 to retire from movies. She partnered with husband and actor Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith to form independent film production studio United Artists. Her fans most favored her in the films The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1917), Daddy-Long-Legs (1919), and Pollyanna (1920).

Lillian Gish worked in silent films from 1912 to 1921, bringing an ethereal combination of innocence and resilience to her characters. Fans lapped it up and demanded more. Called the First Lady of American Cinema, she made the jump from silent films to talkies and then to television, one of the most enduring actresses of her generation. Her more famous silent films include The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Way Down East (1920), and The Scarlet Letter (1926).

The undisputed king of silent films, Rudolph Valentino made women swoon with his swashbuckling good looks. He migrated from Italy and worked as a dancer and gigolo until being cast as a villain in film. His break into Hollywood stardom came with being cast as the Argentinian hero in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Films such as The Sheik (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), and The Eagle (1925) cemented his status as a movie icon. His unexpected and sudden death at the age of 31 caused mass hysteria among his legions of female fans.

By Karen M. Smith