Richard Barthelmess

Acting

Richard Barthelmess

Born — Died

1895-05-08 — 1963-08-17

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

62 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Richard Semler "Dick" Barthelmess (May 9, 1895 – August 17, 1963) was an Oscar-nominated silent film star. Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut. His father died when he was a baby and his mother, Caroline Harris , was a stage actress, so he worked in theatres in his early days, between schooling, doing "walk-ons". This led to acting in college, doing amateur productions. Russian actress Alla Nazimova, a friend of the family, had been taught English by Barthelmess's mother. Nazimova in return convinced Barthelmess to try acting professionally and he made his first film appeara…

Known for

Film credits

1940s · 4 titles

1930s · 15 titles

Heroes for Sale poster
7.1

World War I veteran Tom Holmes is marked by the unbearable suffering caused by his battle wounds. Over the years, he comes to experience both the pain of misfortune and a love for other human beings.

Heroes for Sale

1933

Only Angels Have Wings poster
7.3

A traveling performer arrives at a remote South American port town where the head of an air freight service must risk his pilots' lives to earn a major contract.

Only Angels Have Wings

1939

The Dawn Patrol poster
6.6

World War I ace Dick Courtney derides the leadership of his superior officer, but he soon is promoted to squadron commander and learns harsh lessons about sending subordinates to their deaths.

The Dawn Patrol

1930

Starlit Days at the Lido poster
5.7

Basically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon with an orchestra playing, all sorts of stars and would-be stars sitting at tables near the pool alongside paying customers, and bathing beauties parading and diving. The Lido's manager, Reggy Denny, introduces the stars in the audience. He's sometimes interrupted by someone who does a bit, sings a song, or otherwise entertains: most of these are novelty acts. By the end, everyone's having a swell time.

Starlit Days at the Lido

1935

The Cabin in the Cotton poster
6.3

Sharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance.

The Cabin in the Cotton

1932

Central Airport poster
6.0

Aviator Jim Blaine and his brother Neil are rivals not only as daredevil flyers, but also for the love of parachutist Jill Collins.

Central Airport

1933

The Stolen Jools poster
5.6

Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)

The Stolen Jools

1931

Four Hours to Kill! poster
5.7

A detective who has "four hours to kill" before delivering his prisoner, an escaped killer, spends the time in the lobby of a Broadway theater where a musical is playing. The film focuses on the relationship between the two men, and also between various characters in the theater audience, staff and cast.

Four Hours to Kill!

1935

Massacre poster
5.5

Upon the death of his father, who was the tribal chieftain, Joe Thunder Horse returns to the reservation of his youth, only to discover that his people are dying of various diseases and are being systematically cheated of their possessions and basic rights by crooked Indian agents. He heads to Washington in hopes of righting these wrongs, only to experience prejudice and hatred all along the way.

Massacre

1934

Son of the Gods poster
6.3

The popular Caucasian-looking son (Richard Barthelmess) of a wealthy Chinese businessman lives away from his widowed father and passes as white, but experiences prejudice, rejection, insult, and heartache when the socialite (Constance Bennett) he loves learns of his heritage.

Son of the Gods

1930

Alias the Doctor poster
6.0

Karl is the workaholic adopted son while Stephan is the lazy one. They both go to Munich to study medicine and Karl is at the top of the class while Stephan is barely passing. When Stephan's actions causes the death of Anna, Karl is the one who takes the wrap and three years in prison. When he gets out, he finds Stephan is dead and a sick child needs an operation and he does brilliant surgery. This gets him noticed and his mother tells them that he is Stephan Brenner, not Karl Brenner. She tells Karl that he must cure sickness in the world. But, being that he is Stephan, he can no longer marry Lottie, as she is now his sister.

Alias the Doctor

1932

The Last Flight poster
6.5

WWI pilots Cary, Shep, Bill, and Francis, traumatized by the devastation of the war, head to Paris instead of home, where they meet the eccentric and wealthy Nikki, who is drawn to Cary. The five friends, tagged by boorish reporter Frink, drink their way from Paris to Lisbon.

The Last Flight

1931

A Modern Hero poster
7.0

A 1920s circus performer uses every means at his disposal to achieve fame and fortune at the expense of others.

A Modern Hero

1934

The Finger Points poster
6.4

Lee is a fresh young kid from the South when he gets a job with The Press. His first assignment on gangsters gets his name in the paper, the police on a raid and Lee in the hospital.

The Finger Points

1931

The Voice of Hollywood poster
NR

The Voice of Hollywood hosted by Pat O'Brien. Features Joan Blondell, Robert Montgomery, Elissa Landi, Warner Baxter, and the coronation of Mary Pickford as "Queen of the Arts." It is not currently clear which number in the series this is because it isn't on IMDB or any listing).

The Voice of Hollywood

1930

1920s · 21 titles

The Show of Shows poster
6.6

Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

The Show of Shows

1929

Soul-Fire poster
10.0

Eric Fane (Richard Barthelmess) is a composer unwilling to compromise his dream for a steady job back home in the United States. After his studies in Italy, he moves to Paris, where he is forced to write popular songs for money when he stops receiving support from his father. He tires of selling out and, after an encounter with the mob, starts to travel. He begins a madcap journey from Paris to Port Said, Egypt, and to the South Seas, where he believes he has found love with Teita (Bessie Love).

Soul-Fire

1925

The Amateur Gentleman poster
7.0

Barbanas Barty inherits some money, sets off to London, meets and falls in love with Lady Cleone Meredith, and this does not set well with Sir Mortiner Carnaby, who has eyes on the fair lady himself. Barnaby becomes friend with Viscount Devehon, buys a horse from him and enters it in the big steeplechase. Sir Mortimer takes steps to rid society of the presence of this non-gentleman.

The Amateur Gentleman

1926

Camille: The Fate of a Coquette poster
4.2

A home movie version of the Dumas play. A young woman becomes a courtesan and tragedy befalls her. Appearances are made by many socialites of 1920s Paris and New York.

Camille: The Fate of a Coquette

1926

Fury poster
9.5

Boy Leyton is second mate on board the Lady Spray, the ship on which his father is Captain Leyton. Boy is often chided by his father for his effeminacy and more often beaten. While in port Boy proposes to Minnie and suggests that she go to Glasgow to meet him there to be married. The ship sails and the Captain learns of his son's intention to marry. He calls him in and tells him about his mother, who deserted him, and tries to turn him away from all women, but Boy refuses to listen. The Captain is suddenly taken ill, but before he dies he makes Boy promise that he will not marry until he has found the man who wronged his mother. The Captain is buried at sea and the ship continues on its course. Upon reaching Glasgow Boy tells Minnie what happened. While at the bar, he meets an old woman who comes in begging. During the conversation he discovers that she is his mother, and he forces her to tell him who her betrayer was. A lost film.

Fury

1923

The Fighting Blade poster
7.0

In the war-like times of Oliver Cromwell, in and around 'olde Oxford towne', Dutchman Karl Van Kerstenbrook, Dutch soldier-of-fortune and sword-for-hire, stands ready to defend his lady-love, the fair Thomsine Musgrove, and prove his nettle, and that his blade is made of the finest metal.

The Fighting Blade

1923

The Patent Leather Kid poster
6.1

The Patent Leather Kid is a 1927 silent film which tells the story of a boxer who scoffs at fighting outside the ring... particularly for the United States once it enters World War I. Eventually, he is drafted, is shipped overseas, and performs a heroic act, which results in his being severely wounded.

The Patent Leather Kid

1927

Way Down East poster
6.9

A naïve country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.

Way Down East

1920

The Drop Kick poster
5.2

College football player Jack Hamill finds his reputation on the line when he pays an innocent visit to a woman whose husband kills himself.

The Drop Kick

1927

Shore Leave poster
5.0

"Bilge" Smith (Richard Barthelmess), a tough sailor, meets Connie Martin (Dorothy Mackaill), a seamstress in a small harbor who has never had a boyfriend. Connie is instantly smitten. She invites Smith to dinner, where he dances with her and gives her a kiss. Connie has a hard time letting him go, and makes him promise that he will come back.

Shore Leave

1925

Tol'able David poster
7.0

Young David Kinemon is a good-natured, easy-going lad in a mountain village. Circumstances force him to take his brother's place as mail carrier for the community, and this brings him into deadly contact with the vicious Hatburn brothers.

Tol'able David

1921

The Noose poster
7.7

In this suspenseful silent crime drama, a hijacker proves his loyalty to his mother by killing his biological father, a blackmailing gangster who has been threatening to destroy the mother's happy marriage to the governor.

The Noose

1928

Sonny poster
10.0

Two men who bear a striking resemblance to each befriend each other while stationed in France during WWI. One is fatally fatally wounded and requests makes a dying request to his doppelganger to take on his identity.

Sonny

1922

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come poster
9.0

An orphan (Richard Barthelmess) is adopted by Major Buford (Claude Gillingwater) is educated in Lexington and joins the Union Army as a Captain. He rediscovers his childhood sweetheart (Molly O' Day) and after his adopted father dies in the civil war, he gives up his inheritance in Kentucky for the girl he loves and moves back to be to his real birthplace to be with her. The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come is a lost 1928 silent film drama directed by Alfred Santell and starring Richard Barthelmess. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. The film is a remake of a 1920 Goldwyn Pictures film with the same title starring Jack Pickford, also lost.

The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come

1928

Wheel of Chance poster
8.0

A Russian family, the Turkeltaubs, emigrates to the US before the Communist revolution that overthrew the Czar. One of their twin sons, Schulke, disappears and is believed dead before they leave. After they settle into their new country, the family does well: the surviving twin, Nicholai, becomes a crusading District Attorney. One of the cases he is assigned to prosecute is that of small-time gangster Jacob Talinef, who has killed a former girlfriend of Nicholai's. Further investigation of the case, though, reveals a shocking secret.

Wheel of Chance

1928

Scarlet Seas poster
4.0

A sea captain comes to rescue of a prostitute in Shanghai, who is being run out of town. He takes her aboard his ship and heads out to sea. Not long afterwards the ship sinks but the pair manage to get into a lifeboat before it goes under. They are later picked up by a passing ship, but it turns out that the crew had just mutinied against their captain and taken over the ship.

Scarlet Seas

1928

The Enchanted Cottage poster
7.2

The Enchanted Cottage stars Richard Barthelmess as Oliver, a physically and emotionally wounded World War I veteran who comes home to a fiancée who promptly leaves him. Licking his wounds in solitude, he meets a young woman named Laura (May McAvoy). They fall in love and agree to marry, but unexpected and magical events occur inside The Enchanted Cottage where they have agreed to spend their wedding night.

The Enchanted Cottage

1924

The White Black Sheep poster
7.0

Robert Kincairn, the dissolute son of a British colonel, is gallant enough to take the blame for a robbery perpetrated by his fiancee Enid. Thrown out of his home, he changes his name and joins the army.

The White Black Sheep

1926

Out of the Ruins poster
8.0

He hid from life in the ruins -he came out of the ruins to death! A man condemned to live in the shadow of a great love-never to realize it until he makes the supreme sacrifice.

Out of the Ruins

1928

New Toys poster
7.0

A young husband is left at home looking after a new baby when his wife leaves him to return to her career as a dancer.

New Toys

1925

Ranson's Folly poster
7.2

U. S. Cavalry Lieutenant Ranson belittles the exploits of a bandit known as "The Red Rider," and boasts to his fellow officers that he could hold up a stagecoach with a pair of scissors. And rides out and does so. But the next day, the postmaster, returning from a neighboring town, is also held up and his bodyguard is killed. Ranson is arrested on suspicion and placed on trial. But at the trial suspicion point to Cahill, post trader, and father of Ranson's sweetheart, Mary. In order to save him, Ranson pleads guilty but, in return and knowing that his daughter loves Ranson, Cahill admits he is "The Red Rider." Meanwhile, the real "Red Rider" is still at large.

Ranson's Folly

1926

1910s · 18 titles

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl poster
6.9

A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl

1919

Wild Primrose poster
7.0

Standish, a wealthy Northerner, deserts his untutored Southern wife shortly after their daughter Primrose's birth, preferring to wed the cultured but haughty Emily. After her mother's death, Primrose is placed in the care of her uncle, who rears her as a refined and educated young lady. Longing for his daughter, Standish sends for her, and although Primrose, deeply resentful of her father, exaggerates the role of the uncouth mountain girl, he and his ward, Jack Wilton, come to love her deeply.

Wild Primrose

1918

Rich Man, Poor Man poster
NR

Born and raised in poverty, Marguerite Clark has learned to expect very little out of life and thus is rather surprised to learn that she is the niece of a wealthy financier. Alas, this puts a crimp in her romance with a handsome young architect, who has long despised the financier for causing the downfall of the architect's father.

Rich Man, Poor Man

1918

For Valour poster
NR

Melia Nobbs, a young Canadian woman, supports both her invalid father Ambrose and brother Henry. When Henry faces arrest for helping himself to his employer's cash, Melia steals the amount from the star of the theater where she has been dancing and offers it to her brother if he will enlist in the army. Henry agrees and goes off to war, making Ambrose proud of his son, but when Ambrose learns that his daughter has been arrested for theft, he disowns her. Melia does not reveal the reason for taking the money and is sent to prison. Meanwhile, Henry fights bravely in France and returns home minus an arm but wearing the Victoria Cross. He finds his sister, weak and worn from overwork, in the prison hospital. Seeing her brother with his medals, Melia realizes that her sacrifices for him and her country have not been in vain, and that in her own way, she has served her country.

For Valour

1917

Three Men and a Girl poster
8.0

Three men, disillusioned in love and intent on getting away from all women, rent a cabin and retreat there. But the young woman who owns the cabin, unaware that it has been rented, is on her way there to escape from an unhappy engagement.

Three Men and a Girl

1919

I'll Get Him Yet poster
8.0

A young woman is in love, but the man of her affections wants only her and no part of her vast wealth.

I'll Get Him Yet

1919

Boots poster
4.0

Boots is a young servant girl who polishes shoes in an English inn. She is an incurable romantic, addicted to melodramatic stories of love and adventure. When she discovers a Bolshevik plot to blow up a government official, she takes it on herself to foil the plot.

Boots

1919

The Girl Who Stayed at Home poster
4.8

Ralph Grey visits France with his shipbuilder father, and falls in love with Blossom, granddaughter of his father's friend, a Civil war veteran not reconciled with the Union. Blossom, however, is engaged to a French nobleman. When war breaks out, Ralph enlists, while his brother Jim, a heartbreaker, is drafted.

The Girl Who Stayed at Home

1919

The Soul of a Magdalen poster
NR

The sole support of her invalid mother and young crippled brother, Heloise Broulette is forced to become the mistress of Leland Norton in order to secure the money for an operation to save her mother's life. Mrs. Broulette recovers, but when she discovers the real source of her daughter's income, the news kills her. After her mother's death, Heloise leaves her career behind and goes to the country where she takes a job as a secretary to author Carter Vail, who falls in love with her.

The Soul of a Magdalen

1917

Sunshine Nan poster
NR

Nance Molloy's cheerful disposition, in sharp contrast to the slum near the cathedral where she and her parents make their home, earns her the nickname "Sunshine Nan." However, her fights with the cathedral choirboys, led by MacPherson Clark, gets her into trouble. For interfering in a family squabble, she and her pal, Dan Lewis, are sent to reform school for five years, and upon her release, she becomes a stenographer in the elder Clark's shoe factory. Dan meanwhile has taken a job in the factory's chemical department, where he invents a dye process that promises to make him rich.

Sunshine Nan

1918

The Eternal Sin poster
NR

Gennaro, the son of Lucretia Borgia, lives unaware of the identity of his mother, who has married the Duke of Ferrara. After Lucretia's brother is killed by five conspirators, the fathers of Gennaro's dearest friends, Lucretia tortures the old men to death. Later, Gennaro and his companions journey to Lucretia's domain, and she sees her son for the first time. The Duke, who believes him to be her lover, poisons him, but Lucretia administers the antidote in time and saves his life. Then she schemes to poison her sons' five friends for their fathers' mistake.

The Eternal Sin

1917

Peppy Polly poster
8.0

Polly has herself arrested and committed to a reformatory in order to investigate conditions at the institution, after the committee charged with the investigation whitewashes the facts.

Peppy Polly

1919

The Streets of Illusion poster
NR

Beam opens a boarding house and many interesting characters are introduced. She spreads her optimism to their lives. Also to her blind father by telling him army stories about her brother when in actuality, he's deserted.

The Streets of Illusion

1917

War Brides poster
6.0

Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a soldier, is sent to the war-front along with his three brothers. Word is received that her husband has been killed in battle and Joan's first impulse is suicide by she is pregnant and her prospective motherhood makes her realize her new responsibility. The military authorities start a movement to get the young women of the country to marry departing soldiers, so that the empire may have another generation of fighting men. Word is received that the King is to pass through their village and Joan organizes the women in a general protest against the war. She leads them all, dressed in black, in a long procession to meet the Monarch. The soldiers threaten to shoot her unless she turns the women back, buy Joan comes face-to-face with the ruler and kills herself, as her message from the women that they refuse to make another generation victims of a ruthless militarism.

War Brides

1916

Hit-the-Trail Holliday poster
NR

Bartender Billy Holliday loses his job for refusing to supply drinks to minors at the behest of his employer. In the little country town he wanders into looking for work he finds two elements, the wets and the drys. When he meets the daughter of the leader of the drys, he casts in his lot with them, and when the leader of the wet faction threatens vengeance, Billy is instantly on the job. At a meeting of prohibitionists, which the brewery element seeks to disrupt by the introduction of a number of roughnecks, Holliday takes the platform and nullifies their efforts with a fiery speech. He finally succeeds in putting the wet element out of business--and in winning the love of Edith Jason.

Hit-the-Trail Holliday

1918

Bab's Diary poster
NR

Bab comes home for the Christmas holidays. Given to fabrications, Bab has been keeping a diary in which she describes and imaginary boyfriend named Harold Valentine. Imagine what happens when a real Harold Valentine shows up as her parents' house guest.

Bab's Diary

1917

The Valentine Girl poster
NR

Marion, a young girl, is given up by her guardian to be raised by her father who has a criminal past. Under the enchanting influence of his daughter, he renounces his life of crime. However, a former partner frames him for a robbery he did not commit, and he is sent to prison. The distraught Marion runs away and upon taking refuge in a church, she is eventually adopted by the kindly clergyman's family. As the years pass, Marion grows into a young woman who becomes engaged. When her father is finally released , he seeks his ashamed daughter's forgiveness and explains being sent to prison on false charges. He wins the sympathy of Marion and along with her fiancés, a happy ending prevails for all.

The Valentine Girl

1917

The Hope Chest poster
8.0

Daughter of impoverished vaudeville actor Lew Moore, Sheila works as a waitress in a chocolate manufacturer's candy shop, where she delights the customers with her tomboyish antics. Tom Ballantyne, the proprietor's son realizes that Sheila is excessively fond of dancing, asks her out without the benefit of a proper introduction, and she indignantly refuses. Soon afterwards, however, the two fall in love and secretly marry.

The Hope Chest

1918

Series credits

Behind the camera