William Desmond

Acting

William Desmond

Born 1878-01-23 · Horseheads, New York, USA

Starting out in dramatic parts, Desmond soon switched to westerns and action serials, and became a major western star. When the sound era began Desmond was almost 50 years old, and was soon relegated to supporting roles.

Acting credits

Frisco Kid poster
7.0

After a roustabout sailor avoids being shanghaied in 1850s San Francisco, his audacity helps him rise to a position of power in the vice industry of the infamous Barbary Coast.

Frisco Kid

1935

No artwork available
7.5

A comedy short directed by character Slim Summerville.

Hello, 'Frisco

1924

Tall in the Saddle poster
6.6

When Rocklin arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who hired him as a foreman has been murdered. He is out to solve the murder and thwart the scheming to take the ranch from its rightful owner.

Tall in the Saddle

1944

Frontier Days poster
4.3

Henry Jethrow is after the Wilson ranch. He has George Wilson unknowningly sign a note for the ranch, has him killed, and then presents the note. The Pinto Kid, investigating cattle rustlers, accidentally drops his glove at the murder scene and now has a price on his head. He has Beth Wilson turn him and use the reward money to reclaim the note. Now he has to escape jail and find the real killers.

Frontier Days

1934

The Naughty Nineties poster
6.7

In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first act is to change the showboat into a floating gambling house. A ham actor and his bumbling sidekick try to devise a way to help the captain regain ownership of the vessel.

The Naughty Nineties

1945

Naughty Marietta poster
5.5

In 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

No artwork available
10.0

A young man and his trusty dog go up against a gang of crooks that are building a dam out of shoddy materials, which could collapse and flood the entire valley.

Wild Waters

1935

Trail Street poster
6.5

Bat Masterson's old friend Billy Burns convinces him to become marshal of Liberal, Kansas and help the residents fight drought and a destructive range war.

Trail Street

1947

Phantom of the Opera poster
6.2

Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.

Phantom of the Opera

1943

Fargo Express poster
9.0

When Mort loses his and Ken's money at poker, Goss gets him to rob the stage. He is captured, identified by his palomino horse. Ken tries to clear him by robbing a stage while riding a palomino, but he also gets caught.

Fargo Express

1933

The Pretender poster
NR

After Bob Baldwin is fired for playing too many jokes on the tenderfoot owner of the Diamond K Ranch, he sets out for the nearby town of Freloe Beanos and meets Percival Longstreet on the way. Percival has been seriously injured in an accident and is therefore unable to assume his duties as the town's new schoolmaster. Distressed, Percival confesses that he and his sister Dolly, who is en route to the town, are doomed to starve, which so moves Bob that he agrees to serve as the schoolmaster during Percival's convalescence.

The Pretender

1918

No Defense poster
10.0

No Defense is a 1929 romantic drama directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Monte Blue. It was a silent film with part talking and sound-effects by the Vitaphone Company. It was distributed by Warner Brothers.

No Defense

1929

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell poster
5.7

A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for his missing father. His adventures involve a mysterious inscription on a ring, buried treasure, kidnaping and Indian raids. He saves his father and returns to school just in time to win a decisive baseball game with his remarkable pitching and hitting.

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

1936

The Lightning Warrior poster
6.3

A Rin-Tin-Tin serial presented in 12 episodes. The mysterious Wolf Man is terrorizing settlers in a western town. With the help of Rinty, young Jimmy Carter unmasks the Wolf Man and foils his evil plot.

The Lightning Warrior

1931

Phantom Lady poster
7.0

A devoted secretary embarks on a dangerous mission to try to find the elusive woman who may prove her boss didn't murder his wife.

Phantom Lady

1944

Flash Gordon poster
6.4

Disaster seems imminent when scientists discover that the planet Mongo is about to crash into Earth. Luckily, heroic young Flash Gordon is on hand to lead an investigative mission into outer space and onto the speedily approaching planet. There, he and his best girl, Dale, who is along for the ride, learn that Ming, the devious ruler of Mongo, has purposely put the planet on a collision course with Earth, and only Flash can stop him.

Flash Gordon

1936

No artwork available
NR

After years on the international crime circuit, "Silver Jim" Farrel shares a comfortable and honest suburban life with Marjory, his sister, until word comes that an old friend from his thieving days is in desperate need of cash. To save his bankrupt friend from jail, Jim reluctantly executes a jewel heist, being careful not to involve Marjory or his sweetheart, who know nothing of his past, in the scheme.

Time Locks and Diamonds

1917

Song of the Gringo poster
6.0

In his film debut Ritter is sent to investigate miners being killed and their mines confiscated. The culprit is Evans and after Tex joins the gang, he is sent to kill two more miners. When Estaban is killed, Tex is put on trial for all three murders.

Song of the Gringo

1936

The Sudden Gentleman poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Sudden Gentleman

1917

The Criminal poster
NR

A young Italian immigrant girl, uneducated and superstitious, finds an abandoned baby on the stairs of her tenement, with a note attached explaining the baby is illegitimate. A young newspaper reporter, whom the girl knows from waiting on him at the restaurant where she works, reads the note for her. But the police arrest her, at no evidence whatsoever other than possession of the baby, for kidnapping.

The Criminal

1916

No Children poster
NR

Parents pretend they are in show business and their kids are ventriloquist dummies.

No Children

1929

The Cowboy and the Bandit poster
7.0

Bill travels to a new state after the outlaw Scarface saves him from a lynch mob. There he takes a job on the Barton ranch and joins in the fight against gang leader Larkin. Finding a wounded Scarface he helps him recover. Arrested by Larkin's stooge Sheriff, and with another lynch mob after him, he once again needs Scarface's help.

The Cowboy and the Bandit

1935

Straight Through poster
9.0

O'Day, the terror of Red Gulch, wins the entire stake of a gambler named Granger in a poker game but gives it all to Denver Nell, a dancehall girl, when she tells him her sad story. O'Day later discovers that she has returned the money to Granger, and he decides to reform. He goes to another town, where (now known as Good Deed O'Day) he meets an old friend, a wealthy rancher with whose sister, Mary, he is in love. Snowden takes a trip to Denver and returns with Nell, whom he has married.

Straight Through

1925

The Climax poster
5.5

Dr. Hohner, theatre physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, murders his mistress, the star soprano when his jealousy drives him to the point of mad obsession. Ten years later, another young singer reminds Hohner of the late diva and his old mania kicks in. Hohner wants to prevent her from singing for anyone but him, even if it means silencing her forever.

The Climax

1944