
Acting
Linda Arvidson
Born — Died
1884-07-12 — 1949-07-26
Place of birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
63 titles
Linda Arvidson (born Linda Arvidson Johnson, July 12, 1884 – July 26, 1949; sometimes credited as Linda Griffith) was an American stage and film actress and philanthropist through the Linda A. Griffith Fund. She became one of America's early motion picture stars while working at Biograph Studios in New York, where none of the company's actors, until 1913, were credited on screen. Along with Florence Lawrence, Marion Leonard, and other female performers there, she was often referred to by theatergoers and in trade publications as simply one of the "Biograph girls". Arvidson began working in the new, rapidly expanding film industry after meeting her future husband D. W. Griffith, who impressed…
Known for
9.0Drama written by the film's star Linda Arvidson, under her married name Linda Griffith, was her both her final screenplay and film appearance.
Charity
1916
4.5A husband suspects his wife of an affair. The wife's cousin borrows a shawl to meet her lover in the garden. The husband spies the couple embracing, and, thinking it's his wife, he strikes the lover. The thought that he has killed a man temporarily unhinges the husband's mind until he can be convinced that the lover is still alive.
The Restoration
1909
4.3A haughty politician, on seeing a satirical cartoon in a newspaper, rushes to the paper's offices to shoot the cartoonist. On discovering the cartoonist is a pretty woman, he falls instantly in love and wastes no time in trying to woo her.
The Politician's Love Story
1909
3.6Adaptation of a poem written by Thomas Hood.
The Song of the Shirt
1908
5.4A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.
A Drunkard's Reformation
1909
4.9Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.
The Taming of the Shrew
1908
Film credits
1910s · 15 titles
9.0Drama written by the film's star Linda Arvidson, under her married name Linda Griffith, was her both her final screenplay and film appearance.
Charity
1916
A family is attacked by Indians, the father killed and son captured. The widow remarries and her stepdaughter, Mabel, encourages her stepbrother to find his lost half-brother. Dick, influenced by a gambler, gambles away his money and tries to exploit Mabel, prompting her to join the search with a gambler she meets, Jack. They discover the brother is now an Indian chief, leading to further complications.
The Gambler of the West
1915
5.6Enoch Arden, a humble fisherman, marries Annie Lee. He signs on as a sailor to make more money to support their growing family. A storm wrecks his ship, but Enoch swims to a deserted island. Annie waits vainly for his return.
Enoch Arden: Part I
1911
6.0Moving Picture World described the film: "There is a small need to describe this subject as the poem of Lord Tennyson is so well known, so suffice it to say that this Biograph subject is an unusually faithful portrayal of that beautiful romance of Enoch Arden, Annie Lee and Philip Ray, taken in scenes of rare beauty". This is the combined feature version of Enoch Arden Parts I and II.
Enoch Arden
1911
NRSteve Monteith and Ezra Mason, upper class men, and Bill Bronson, a plebe, are chums and roommates at West Point before the Civil War. Steve prepares to leave for his home in Virginia, and Mason and he exchange photographs before parting. General Abner Montieth, Steve's father, and his sister Clairette are overjoyed and surprised when Steve arrives. Aunt Margie and her adopted daughter, Joan Fitzhugh, who is very fond of Steve, join the family and give Steve a warm welcome. One year later the rumble of war is heard. Steve, now a major, and his father, General, leave at the head of separate companies with the Confederate troops.
A Fair Rebel
1914
NRThe orphan girl of San Gabriel meets and is attracted by a Spanish stranger. The Spaniard is accused of cheating and set to be lynched, but is saved by the girl's ruse, who later becomes his bride.
The Thread of Destiny
1910
Mabel, a young woman living in a large mansion, is courted by Tom Darrell, a neighbour of the same class. Meanwhile, Ruth, Mabel’s laundress, is courted by the equally lowly Steve. Ruth and Steve watch the wealthy couple’s courtship enviously. Both couples marry; the Darrells have a daughter, and Ruth and Steve a son and daughter. Tom tires of Mabel and his daughter, and runs away with another woman. Later, Mabel’s little girl is stricken with diphtheria and dies, despite her mother’s offering the doctor all her wealth if he can cure her. Meanwhile, Ruth and Steve’s children remain healthy, and their domestic happiness prevents their persisting envy of Mabel’s wealth from embittering them.
Gold Is Not All
1910
5.6Annie remains faithful to her husband, Enoch, even though he's been lost at sea for many years. Finally her grown children convince her to marry Philip, her former suitor. Enoch is rescued from the deserted isle where he has been stranded, and returns home. He discovers Annie's new life, and decides not to interrupt her happiness.
Enoch Arden: Part II
1911
4.0The evils of drink cause a man to separate from his family. In time he becomes sober and prosperous. Then he meets and falls in love with a young woman, and they become engaged. Unbeknownst to him this young woman is his own daughter.
The Rocky Road
1910
6.0Thieves decide to steal the money an old miser has hidden away. He refuses to open the safe for them, so they threaten to kill a little girl who lives in his building.
The Miser's Heart
1911
NRTwo sisters, Nellie and Florence, support themselves and their mother by sewing. A man accompanying a wealthy client tempts first Nellie and then Florence to leave with him. Nellie rejects him, but Florence goes to his decadent apartment and becomes his mistress. Nellie marries a diligent carpenter and raises a growing family. Eventually the Tempter tosses Florence out, and she dies alone and impoverished.
The Two Paths
1911
A feud existed between two Italian houses and it meant disaster to any one of the belligerents to intrude into the opposing house. The Lord of the house gives a feast in honor of the arrival of a wealthy foreign noble, whom he expects to make his son-in-law. The daughter, however, has given her heart to the son of her father's enemy. That he may be present at the festival, she surreptitiously takes her father's signet ring, throwing it to him from the window, which, of course, admits him. The father, anticipating the intrusion of his enemies, orders death to any member who enters the hall. After the festivities the unwelcome betrothal takes place and the forbidden lover braves death to see his loved one. While they are in clandestine meeting a guard is seen to enter the corridor so the girl hides her sweetheart in a secret closet, turning the key and taking it with her. Not finding the intruder, the guard imagines he was mistaken.
Heart Beats of Long Ago
1911
6.4In this story set at a seaside fishing village and inspired by a Charles Kingsley poem, a young couple's happy life is turned about by an accident. The husband, although saved from drowning, loses his memory. A child is on the way, and soon a daughter is born to his wife. We watch the passage of time, as his daughter matures and his wife ages. The daughter becomes a lovely young woman, herself ready for marriage. One day on the beach, the familiarity of the sea and the surroundings triggers a return of her father's memory, and we are reminded that although people age and change, the sea and the ways of the fisherfolk remain eternal.
The Unchanging Sea
1910
An old colonel is proud as a peacock: his son leads a group of volunteers in the American Civil War. Untill one day his son returns home as a deserter.
The Honor of His Family
1910
A story of duplicity, ambition and misunderstandings when four peoples lives become intertwined in a quest for a political appointment.
The Wife
1914
1900s · 45 titles
4.5A husband suspects his wife of an affair. The wife's cousin borrows a shawl to meet her lover in the garden. The husband spies the couple embracing, and, thinking it's his wife, he strikes the lover. The thought that he has killed a man temporarily unhinges the husband's mind until he can be convinced that the lover is still alive.
The Restoration
1909
4.3A haughty politician, on seeing a satirical cartoon in a newspaper, rushes to the paper's offices to shoot the cartoonist. On discovering the cartoonist is a pretty woman, he falls instantly in love and wastes no time in trying to woo her.
The Politician's Love Story
1909
3.6Adaptation of a poem written by Thomas Hood.
The Song of the Shirt
1908
5.4A man arrives home late and drunk as usual. His wife reminds him that he's supposed to take their daughter out to a play. While watching the play, he's faced with his own drinking evils and how his life would be without them.
A Drunkard's Reformation
1909
4.9Based on Shakespeare's play. Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.
The Taming of the Shrew
1908
5.2Agnes, a singer in a country church, is practicing one day when a vaudeville manager hears her and offers her a job. Over the objections of the curate who loves her, she accepts the offer and goes to the city. Later the curate goes to hear Agnes perform and, fearing that her soul is being corrupted by show business, he asks her to return to the small town with him. When she refuses, he is prepared to kill her in order to protect the purity of her soul. This brings about her change of heart, and together they return to the little church.
To Save Her Soul
1909
3.7A royal woman rejects her arranged marriage. The cardinal hatches a plan: the suitor will shave and change clothes. He arranges with 4 clowns to stage an attack on the princess which he easily repels. It works; the princess falls for him, especially when the cardinal arranges his arrest.
The Cardinal's Conspiracy
1909
2.9Mrs. Wharton, a dashing widow, gives a party at her beautiful villa in honor of the presentation to her of a handsome diamond necklace by her fiancé. During the evening bridge participated in by a number of the guests, among whom is Myrtle Vane. Miss Vane is playing in wretched luck, and is advised several times by Mrs. Wharton to desist, but she still plays on in the vain hopes of the tide of fortune turning, until at last, in the extreme of desperation, she stakes her all and loses. Shame and disgrace stare her in the face. What can she do to recoup her depleted fortune? As one of the guests there is Professor Francois Paracelsus, the eminent palmister, who of course, was called upon to read the palms of those present. Sheets of paper were prepared and each imprinted their hand on a sheet to be read by the erudite soothsayer at his leisure, and so were left on the drawing room table.
Betrayed by a Handprint
1908
3.3A woman who is filled with romantic ideas is making no secret of her eagerness to find a husband. Her father decides to help her by pressuring and threatening an eligible bachelor, who reluctantly allows wedding plans to be made.
Balked at the Altar
1908
3.7"Fine feathers make fine birds", and handsome gowns make handsome women. Hence it is when Isabelle appears on the scene clad in a gown that is a masterpiece of the dressmaker's art she easily fascinates the male contingent, among whom is Enrico, the sweetheart of Veronica, a street singer. Enrico is so enraptured at the sight of Isabelle in her resplendent attire that he becomes her abject slave, casting aside the poor, peasant-clad little Italian street singer, who has loved him devotedly. Crushed almost beyond endurance the poor girl stands sobbing at the entrance of the park where the inconsistent lever left her. Her tears attract the attention of a wealthy young couple who happen to pass. In answer to their queries she tells them how contemptibly her sweetheart acted, and all because of the fascinating influence of a gown.
The Lure of the Gown
1909
4.4A girl from the New York slums falls in with crooks. After her love is arrested following a barfight turned deadly, her life seems directionless-- that is, until she's saved from the streets by a band of Salvationists. She enrolls, and soon afterward encounters her former love in the same bar. Her faith is real, and strong, and her former love doesn't like this.
The Salvation Army Lass
1909
5.4As Poe's lover is slowly dying, he struggles to make money to care for her.
Edgar Allen Poe
1909
5.1A king grows suspicious of his favored woman's affection for an Italian troubadour. After confirming their secret romance, he takes a cruel revenge by sealing the lovers inside a secluded tower chamber with no means of escape.
The Sealed Room
1909
4.5Mons. Flamant, a typical roué of the French nobility, is surrounded by all the pleasures and pastimes his fabulous wealth can procure. In a quest of diversion he visits the art rooms, just as a young girl enters with a magnificent piece of sculpture and places it on sale. The roué is so impressed with the work and the girl that he purchases it at once and follows her to the atelier, where he learns that she is the maid of the sculptress, whom he sees and at once falls passionately in love with her, but when he learns that she is totally blind, his feelings change to one of deepest pity.
The Roue’s Heart
1909
4.7A music teacher is in love with Helen, one of his students, but she rejects him. In his hurt he joins an anarchist group who plan to blow up a rich capitalist's house. When he realizes it's Helen's house, he tries to stop the plan.
The Voice of the Violin
1909
3.7After three years at sea, Edward returns home to find his sweetheart forced into an engagement with a much older man.
The Cricket on the Hearth
1909
2.0Jones's mother-in-law prohibits his smoking and drinking, so he takes her out for the evening and gets her drunk.
His Wife's Mother
1909
2.5A mother punishes her son for eating a plate of cream puffs, unaware that the daughter really did it. As the daughter watches the punishment, she feels guilty, and confesses her misdeed.
I Did It, Mamma
1909
A short version of James Fenimore Cooper's famous tale about Natty Bumppo, or "Hawkeye," and his exploits during the French and Indian war.
Leather Stocking
1909
6.2On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
A Corner in Wheat
1909
4.2Soon after their engagement, Bill goes to sea, and Emily vows to stay true until his return. Unknown to her, Bill marries another woman from a different port. Emily waits faithfully for six years, finally becoming dangerously ill. When Bill suddenly appears in town with his family, Joe, who has loved Emily all along, forces Bill to make Emily's final moments happy by pretending he has returned to marry her.
Lines of White on a Sullen Sea
1909
A Duke's daughter is loved by a gallant knight, but her father wants her to marry another. With the help of his friends, the knight hatches an elaborate scheme to marry his sweetheart.
Love Finds a Way
1909
A few of us have had the chance to read our own obituary notice, but it fell to the lot of John Goodhusband the rare privilege of viewing his own elegiac cinerary floral offerings, and at the time John was anything but a "dead one."
A Wreath in Time
1909
3.8The amateur dramatic society chooses the Joneses' residence as the location of its next meeting, and both Joneses catch 'the acting bug' in this split-reel subject.
The Joneses Have Amateur Theatricals
1909
0.5A court fool believes the Duke is after his beautiful daughter, and arranges to have the Duke murdered. The daughter overhears the plot and, disguised in the Duke's cloak, sacrifices her life to save him.
A Fool's Revenge
1909
3.2A group of collegiates decide to go for a splash. A lunatic, having escaped from a nearby asylum, heads for the surf, brandishing a knife. Innocent seaside fun becomes a struggle against a maniac on the water.
Where the Breakers Roar
1908
5.4Pippa awakes and faces the world outside with a song. Unbeknown to her, the music has a healing effect on all who hear her as she passes by.
Pippa Passes
1909
A bitter feud between the Wilkinson and Caulfield families turns tragic when the Colonel’s young son is killed. Despite the hatred, Bobby Wilkinson and Nellie Caulfield secretly remain lovers for 10 years and eventually elope, leading Colonel Wilkinson to disown his son. Two years later, Bobby's family faces a bleak Christmas with their infant boy. Desperate for food, their loyal servant steals a turkey from the Colonel’s estate. The Colonel tracks the thief to Bobby’s home, intent on confrontation. However, seeing his baby grandson melts his anger, ending the generational feud over a shared Christmas dinner.
The Feud and the Turkey
1908
The pretty daughter of a French-Canadian backwoodsman incites the love of a trapper who is so smitten with the beauty of this wood nymph that he purchases her into marriage from her father. The transaction meets with repugnance from the girl. She was entirely contented with conditions, a child of nature, carefree. However, she finds her pleading of no avail, and so pretends to accept the situation. The trapper and Canadian go into the cabin to seal the bargain with a drink, and while inside the girl closes and fastens the door on them and makes her way through the woods to escape.
A Woman's Way
1908
Three little girls fall into a sand pit and can't get out. One of them ties a note around her pet pigeon's neck and releases it. The pigeon flies home, alerting the parents to where the girls are trapped.
The Children's Friend
1909
5.3On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing.
The Adventures of Dollie
1908
A silent short about a Sioux Indian by D.W. Griffith.
The Redman and the Child
1908
3.3D.W. Griffith film about an elderly father who grows tired of seeing his son bring home beautiful women so he gets a makeover and heads out on the prowl.
Father Gets in the Game
1908
John and Tom Wilkins are brothers and most divergent in natures. John is a clergyman and a noble, upright fellow, while Tom is a scapegrace, wild, reckless and unscrupulous. Not having the parental guidance so essential in youth, his father being dead and his mother blind, he drifted into bad company, the contaminating influence deeply affecting his susceptible nature.
The Man and the Woman
1908
The story tells of the young widowed mother of two children who is forced by extreme poverty to part with one of her children, a baby girl, by placing it in a basket on the door steps of a wealthy banker. Before leaving the baby the poor mother takes one of its little shoes to keep as a memento.
A Baby's Shoe
1909
3.0Mr. Jones, since his last escapade, had made strenuous efforts to amend the reputation he had gained in the eyes of the ladies of the Temperance League. But Oh! the ordeal, for such it was, was telling on him, and his pent-up spirits were threatening ebullition, when at last the chance comes. The league arranges to attend a three-days' convention out of town, and when Mrs. Jones departs, Jones sends a note to Smith, telling him to bring the gang, and they would have a "Prayer Meeting," enjoining him not to forget the "fixings." Well, the gang are not long in putting in an appearance, for they feel that every minute's delay is a chunk lost from a golden opportunity for fun.
Mr. Jones Has a Card Party
1909
2.8After a judge (Harry Solter) does his job and sentences a man, a gypsy woman (Marion Leonard) erupts in vehement protests and has to be taken forcefully out of the courtroom. Later the gypsy follows the judge to his home and plots a vicious revenge on his wife (Florence Lawrence).
An Awful Moment
1908
3.2Two noblemen fight over a lady.
When Knights Were Bold
1908
Hidalgo offers his daughter's hand in marriage when he can't repay a loan to Manuella. But when Manuella overhears the daughter bidding farewell to her lover, he is so moved by their devotion that he cancels the debt.
The Eavesdropper
1909
A young man at a party becomes infatuated with Mrs. Francis after she sings for the guests. His father, the host of the party, intervenes, convincing Mrs. Francis to discourage the young man's attentions. The young man, despondent at being turned away, eventually falls for a young woman that is introduced to him, someone his own age. Mrs. Francis comes to realize she truly loves the boy, and her sacrifice, although a right one, hurts her.
The Fascinating Mrs. Francis
1909
5.0John Holland, a planter in a small way, is devotedly attached to his wife and infant child. The wife wearies of the monotonous grind of farm life and is easy prey of a contemptible villain, in the person of Tom Roland, the ubiquitous "other man".
The Planter's Wife
1908
A young courtier gambles in a tavern and wins a coat from the leader of a gang. In the pocket he finds details of a plan to kidnap the Queen. He returns to the castle and hides until the kidnappers show up, then he exposes the kidnapping plot.
The Winning Coat
1909
4.6An anonymous donor drops a gold coin in the shoe of a homeless girl as she sleeps. A gambler with a 'sure thing' borrows the coin and wins a fortune, but he can't find her again to repay her.
The Golden Louis
1909
Millionaire Edward Ross fakes bankruptcy during a dinner party to test his fawning friends, who immediately abandon him. Disillusioned, he leaves his wealthy life to work as a factory porter and find true friendship among the working class. When a factory overseer insults a worker named Jennie, Edward defends her by knocking the man down, sparking a close bond between them. Edward later falls severely ill and penniless, prompting Jennie to secretly sell her beautiful blonde hair to buy him food and medicine. Touched by her profound sacrifice, Edward recovers, reveals his true wealth, and marries her, bringing her into his world of luxury.
The Test of Friendship
1908
4.9Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.
Resurrection
1909
Behind the camera
6.0Moving Picture World described the film: "There is a small need to describe this subject as the poem of Lord Tennyson is so well known, so suffice it to say that this Biograph subject is an unusually faithful portrayal of that beautiful romance of Enoch Arden, Annie Lee and Philip Ray, taken in scenes of rare beauty". This is the combined feature version of Enoch Arden Parts I and II.
Enoch Arden
1911
5.6Annie remains faithful to her husband, Enoch, even though he's been lost at sea for many years. Finally her grown children convince her to marry Philip, her former suitor. Enoch is rescued from the deserted isle where he has been stranded, and returns home. He discovers Annie's new life, and decides not to interrupt her happiness.
Enoch Arden: Part II
1911
Mary, an orphan, comes to live with her aunt. Being in rather poor health and what some might call homely, the poor girl despairs of ever receiving any attention either from her pretty cousins or their gentlemen friends. One of the cousins, however, who is an athletic girl, takes her in hand. The first dose of medicine is a bout at boxing, then a run along the country road, followed by a cold plunge. This is kept up daily for two months, at the end of which time no one would know Mary, such a transformation having taken place. The other girls are now in fearful dread of losing their sweethearts, as they seem too well pleased with the result.
How She Triumphed
1911
