
Acting
Robert Thornby
Born 1888-03-27 · New York City, New York, USA
Acting credits
5.7A short western about a cowardly sheriff who leaves it up to his wife to catch a murderer, and then takes the credit himself.
The Craven
1912
7.0A short Western about a bandit who saves the daughter of the sheriff.
The Redemption of Red Rube
1912
6.0With a fondness for gambling, Jim Saunders is given to neglecting his wife and child. One night during his absence at the saloon, Miguel Gomez, a Mexican outlaw, for whom $1,000 reward is offered, enters Jim's home and demands food of Mrs. Saunders.
The Better Man
1912
6.3A short Western about the tragic romance between a sheriff and the daughter of a horse thief.
At the End of the Trail
1912
6.0A Western drama in which a gang steals John’s horse and then kidnaps Polly when she tries to warn the new buyer.
A Girl of the West
1912
A romantic Western in which a notorious criminal who is in love with the fiancée of the sheriff digs his own sentence by reuniting the sheriff, whom he has wounded, with the girl.
The Greater Love
1912
A short Western. When his child dies, Dick is at wit’s end. He begins to drink, and shoots someone dead. As the sheriff is chasing him, Dick comes across a dead Indian woman with her child. He cares for the child, and warns the sheriff. When they find him, the child has already died, and they take him away.
A Wasted Sacrifice
1912
A drama in which a man buys a horse in order to get medicine for his wife, but is then arrested because he is riding a stolen horse.
The Triumph of Right
1912
Twenty or twenty-five years ago, when the unoccupied government lands were released for settlement, everyone who registered their names was given a fair and free chance to secure one of the sections of land, which was apportioned off in sections. The settlers were drawn up in a long line at a certain distance from the lands opened up, some of them on horseback and others in vehicles of all descriptions. At the firing of a cannon, everybody made a rush for the land. Harvey Mattson and his wife Annie, with their child, emigrate form Missouri in a prairie schooner. On their way they hear of the opening up of the Cherokee Strip. They hasten there and Harvey pitches camp, preparatory to entering his name. Their child is taken sick. Harvey goes for the doctor, and during his absence. Bill Slick, a good-looking ruffian, tries to force his attentions upon Annie. She repulses him. Harvey and the doctor arrive, and he "settles" Bill without ceremony. The ruffian, enraged, leaves.
How States Are Made
1912
6.5A gruff prospector with a distaste for women and children suddenly finds, when his mining partner dies in an accident, himself responsible for the man's orphaned daughter.
The Fatherhood of Buck McGee
1912
A silent romantic film about the battle between two fur trappers for the hand of a lovely girl.
Destiny Is Changeless
1912
Behind the camera
8.0When the Duke of Wynningham, a "simple soul" who prefers science to royalty, meets Molly Shine, a London shop girl, he is enthralled by her love of books and begins to send her two pounds weekly so that she can purchase the books that she adores. Molly's mother discovers the money and, assuming that the duke is paying her daughter for immoral reasons, drags the girl to the duke's home, where she charges him with seduction.
Simple Souls
1920
10.0Having banned the carrying of firearms in his jurisdiction, Larry Reid, the sheriff of Silvertown (Roy Stewart), pursues a trespasser of the strict law to the home of schoolmarm Mary Gray (Marjorie Daw). Noticing her evasive answers, Larry suspects the teacher of harboring the refugee. He finally captures the young man in question, Neil (Johnny Walker), who proves to be Mary's weakling brother.
The Sagebrush Trail
1922
10.0A feud over boundaries between the McKinstry and Harrison families, both from Kentucky, but squatting in California in search of gold, has caused Cressy McKinstry to show disdain for Joe Masters, a cousin of the Harrisons, even though she secretly loves him.
Fighting Cressy
1919
NRYoung playwright Harold Montague travels to the Kentucky mountains to seek the local color that his manager has complained is lacking in his new play. There he falls in love with Kate Kendall, a mountain girl, and tries to befriend a group of moonshiners, who regard him with suspicion because of their fear of revenue officers.
Her Inspiration
1918
5.8A miner's happiness is destroyed when a rival steals his mine. He becomes obsessed with revenge, and plans a trap for the man who took his mine.
The Trap
1922
NRThe story of an orphan girl and her dog.
Carolyn of the Corners
1919
NRSato (Sessue Hayakawa) faithfully works for importer James Thornton (James Neill). When the old man dies, he leaves his daughter Mildred (Vivian Martin) in Sato's care. Sato loves the girl, but as he is Japanese he cannot hope to ever marry her (at least not in the racially prejudiced era of the early 1900s). Besides, Mildred loves Harry Maxwell (Tom Forman), who was raised alongside her.
Forbidden Paths
1917
10.0Felix O'Day lives to fulfill but one desire: to impose revenge on Austin Bennett, the man who stole his wife Barbara and caused his father's death.
Felix O'Day
1920
7.5The daughter of a railroad magnat has to take charge when her father unexpectedly dies. She uses her outdoor survival skills to kidnap a business rival to save the company from a stock market struggle.
The Deadlier Sex
1920
When wild horse Emma (Trixie the Horse) keeps opening the gates and freeing horses, ranch owner Molly (Molly Malone) hires Jimmie (Jimmie Adams) to deal with the problem. When he tames Emma, however, jealous ranch hands tie him up and kidnap Molly, so it's Emma to the rescue!
Whoa, Emma!
1926
9.0Priscilla Dean starred in this comedy-Western as Eastern golf pro Freddy Hayden who is hired by a Western dude ranch. Assumed to be a man because of the name, Freddy creates a sensation appearing at a dance in the newest creation from Paris, and later incurs the ire of all when she accidentally causes a stampede. Ranch foreman Bruce Elwood (Arnold Gray) eventually wins the heart of the leading lady when he rescues Freddy from a villainous cattle rustler. A year after this light comedy, Dean began to wind down her career, and played a foil to Laurel and Hardy in Slipping Wives.
West of Broadway
1926
10.0Jed Morgan, a Detroit automobile manufacturer, calls in John Steele, a mechanical genius, and Chet Higgins, a promoter, and offers a half interest in profits to the first man to perfect his gear-less motor invention. Emily Dale, Morgan's confidential adviser, prefers Steele and urges him to win, while Higgins calls to his aid a renegade mechanic. Steele places his car on a train, and Higgins plans to wreck it so as to be the first to claim the prize; his plan succeeds, but Morgan is taken ill, giving Steele and Emily time to recondition the car. Emily obtains right-of-way over main roads and permission to speed on a record-breaking trip to California. In spite of attempts to stall her, Emily wins the race, though forced to drive her car through a show window. Steele is rewarded by Morgan with the money and the love of Emily.
The Speeding Venus
1926
8.0Ever since Henry Falkins had caused Newt Spooner to be sentenced to prison, Newt has nursed a red-hot hatred for him and a desire to see Henry dead. That is until he meets and falls in love with Minerva Rawlins who makes him reevaluate his obsession. When fate throws the two men together in the Philippines during wartime and the opportunity to slay Henry occurs Newt realizes that he has resolved his inner torment. He returns to Minerva a man at peace with himself.
A Woman's Power
1916
NRMazie-Rosie Carden, a waif who pays her board by selling papers on the street, saves the life of starving musician Deal Hendrie by giving him her cherished "lucky dime." Meanwhile, her brother Ben, employed as a weigh-master by the West Coal Company, has been discharged on a trumped-up accusation by the company's manager, Samuel Winter, of falsifying weights.
Little Miss Optimist
1917
NRYoung Celeste Janvier ( Bessie Love ) lives in an East Side tenement with her immigrant grandfather, a humanitarian and socialist. Like her kindly grandfather, Celeste also has a kindhearted soul, and her friendly nature has earned her the nickname, " the little sister of everybody."
A Little Sister of Everybody
1918
8.0Young doctor Bradley Yates has been trying to come up with a serum to counteract blood poisoning, with no results. Exhausted, he takes a rest in the Blue Ridge Mountains and stays in a small mountain community. When a young schoolteacher comes to town a romance develops between her and Bradley, but the local gossips have spread rumors that he has seduced Talithy, a local girl, and will abandon her for the teacher. Complications ensue.
The Blazing Trail
1921
A Rin Tin Tin comedy spoof.
Run Tin Can
1926
NRWicked Russian Grand Duke Bagroff becomes infatuated with Thanya, but she loves American artist Vance Holden. When Thanya's revolutionary brother Boris tells her that he plans to kill Bagroff, she agrees to help. The plan fails and Boris and Thanya are captured, but they soon escape to Paris where Thanya rejoins the struggling Vance. Bagroff finds Thanya and tells her that he will make Vance famous if she consents to be his mistress. Thanya agrees and Vance becomes an overnight success. Then, as Bagroff and Thanya prepare to spend their first night together, Boris appears and kills the duke, thereby allowing Thanya and Vance to spend a peaceful, successful life together.
The Crucial Test
1916
4.0Despondent over the infidelity of his wife, William McCabe wanders on the waterfront considering suicide, but instead he saves the life of Shark Moran. Moran gives McCabe a job on his lightship, where McCabe enjoys the solitude and falls in love with Ann Reynolds, the daughter of the captain of the supply ship.
Stormswept
1923
10.0If you were a studious man, accustomed to burning the midnight oil, wouldn't it annoy you if each night at 12 precisely, the ghost of a melancholy maiden appeared, weeping and lamenting? A certain professor was bothered this way. He was not afraid of ghosts and could have endured one whose specialty was silent haunting. He found, however, that the weeping maiden was a nuisance, and prevented him from concentrating. So he decided, ungallant though his conduct might be deemed, to get rid of her.
When Ghost Meets Ghost
1913
7.0Actress Nina Seabury is primarily interested in her lovers' wealth. Nina begins a relationship with Emory Townsend, whom she mistakenly believes is a wealthy bank president. He is merely a bank cashier. Desperate to fund Nina’s expensive tastes and maintain the illusion of wealth, Emory steals $12,000 from his bank. Despite his sacrifice, Nina ultimately breaks up with him. Following the split, Emory finds true love with Mary Winslow.
Her Maternal Right
1916
No synopsis available yet.
Billy's Charge
1914
No synopsis available yet.
Carmen's Romance
1914
9.0Santa Fe, a tramp, is saved from a jeering mob in the desert town of Caliente by Annette, the sheriff's daughter; and after adopting Pard he gets a job as a porter in the bank. Santa Fe learns that the leading banker, Coulter, is in league with a band of outlaws, and when Coulter frames Dick Farwell, Annette's fiancé, Dick is suspected of robbery and is captured by the outlaws.
The Fox
1921