John St. Polis

Acting

John St. Polis

Born 1873-11-24 · New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John M. St. Polis (November 24, 1873 – October 8, 1946) was an American actor. St. Polis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Before starting his film career, he made a name for himself on the Broadway stage, most notably in the role of Frederik in the original production of The Return of Peter Grimm (1911–12) and the play's revival in 1921, both performed at the Belasco Theatre. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943. In all of his early roles, the actor is billed as John Sainpolis. His best-known performances are as Etienne Laurier in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and as Comte Phillipe de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera (1925). St. Polis successfully made the transition from silent cinema to "talkies" with one of his most praised performances as Dr. John M. Besant, the father of Norma Besant (played by Mary Pickford) in Coquette (1929).

Acting credits

The Rose of Paris poster
9.0

A French orphan who grew up in a convent sets out to see Paris. It turns out that she is the heir to a fortune but doesn't know it, and has been lured to Paris by one of the heirs who does know who she is; he plans to swindle her out of her inheritance so he can have everything.

The Rose of Paris

1924

If I Had a Million poster
6.5

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

If I Had a Million

1932

The Phantom of the Opera poster
7.1

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

The Phantom of the Opera

1925

Bondwomen poster
NR

After five years of repressed protest, Norma, wife of Dr. Hugh Ellis, a moderately successful physician, suddenly voices denunciation regarding the average position of the American wife in the average American home today wherein she is compelled to be entirely answerable to her husband in expenditures for household and petty needs.

Bondwomen

1915

A Night at the Opera poster
7.4

The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

A Night at the Opera

1935

The Match King poster
6.7

Unscrupulous Chicago janitor Paul Kroll uses deceit to fund a return trip to his homeland of Sweden. There, via ongoing continuing deceit and manipulation, he gradually attains a monopoly on the matchstick market in several countries and becomes an influential international figure. Based on the true story of Ivar Kreuger.

The Match King

1932

The Untameable poster
7.5

The Most Shocking Film of 1923! Directed by Herbert Blache, The Untameable dramatizes the then-sensational subject of dual personality, with Gladys Walton in the dual role of Joy and her whip-toting, brutal, sadistic alter-ego Edna, and Etta Lee as her faithful Asian lesbian maid.

The Untameable

1923

The Hero poster
7.0

Oswald Lane is welcomed by his hometown as a war hero and enjoys recounting his adventures to anyone who will listen. He accepts an invitation to stay in the home of his rather colorless brother, Andrew, and is soon not only making love to Martha, the Belgian maid, but is also finding Andrew's wife, Hester, receptive to his flirting. After stealing money entrusted to Andrew by his church, Oswald is on his way out of town when he passes a school fire, rescues several children, and is himself seriously burned. Andrew offers his own skin for grafting, and Oswald directs Hester to return the money.

The Hero

1923

Sleeping Fires poster
NR

A woman is betrayed by her cruel husband, who uses their child to further torment her.

Sleeping Fires

1917

The Unknown poster
7.6

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder—a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.

The Unknown

1927

Party Girl poster
3.8

Jay Rountree, a young, rising businessman and a son of a wealthy manufacturer gets caught up in a web involving an escort service or 'party girls' and trapped into an unhappy marriage.

Party Girl

1930

Jungle Menace poster
7.0

Mystery and adventure, surrounding a stolen rubber harvest.

Jungle Menace

1937

Coquette poster
5.9

A Southern belle's flirtation with a working man leads to tragedy.

Coquette

1929

Cocktail Hour poster
5.3

Cynthia Warren, independently wealthy through her ability as an illustrator and poster artist, rebels against the premise that every woman is destined for matrimony and motherhood and decides she has as much right as a man to play around.

Cocktail Hour

1933

Call Her Savage poster
5.8

A high-spirited and short-tempered Texan woman storms her way through life until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the error of her ways.

Call Her Savage

1932

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse poster
6.6

Set in the years before and during World War I, this epic tale tells the story of a rich Argentine family, one of its two descending branches being half of French heritage, the other being half German. Following the death of the family patriarch, the man's two daughters and their families resettle to France and Germany, respectively. In time the Great War breaks out, putting members of the family on opposing sides.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1921

No artwork available
NR

This picture deals with the fates of Gaston Beauvais, an aristocratic young banker of Paris, and Pauline de Chauvilles, his fiancée. Beauvais discovers that Sylvion, his best friend, has long carried on a clandestine love affair with Pauline. An artist acquaintance urges Gaston to comfort himself with absinthe. Gaston in his despair yields. From that moment the wreck of his career begins. Maddened by absinthe, he denounces Pauline at the marriage-altar on his wedding day, as Sylvion's cast-off mistress. Still driven by absinthe, he murders Sylvion and ultimately his brutalities drives Pauline, now a pitiful outcast of the streets, for she fled her home in shame after Gaston cast her off, to end her pathetic existence in the dark waters of the Seine.

Wormwood

1915

Boys' Reformatory poster
5.3

A tough street kid takes the rap for a burglary committed by the son of his foster family and is sent to a boys reformatory, where the inmates are under the thumb of corrupt guards and a brutal prison doctor.

Boys' Reformatory

1939

Shadows poster
6.2

Yen Sin, a humble Chinese, is washed ashore after a storm and finds himself an outsider in the deeply Christian fishing community of Urkey. Yen Sin elects to stay, despite his status as a despised 'heathen', only to reveal hypocrisy amid the self-righteous township.

Shadows

1922

They Shall Have Music poster
6.5

The future is bleak for a troubled boy from a broken home in the slums. He runs away when his step father breaks his violin, ending up sleeping in the basement of a music school for poor children.

They Shall Have Music

1939

Souls for Sale poster
6.3

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Souls for Sale

1923

Three on the Trail poster
6.0

An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.

Three on the Trail

1936

The Greater Glory poster
8.0

Fanny von Berg's engagement to Count Maxim von Hurtig is suddenly broken off and she is denounced by her family for a suspected indiscretion. When they are reduced to starvation by the war, the family members accept her earnings without acknowledging the source. As the hostess of a Viennese night club, Fanny becomes the mistress of a rich war profiteer. The Count, loving her still, prevents her from making further sacrifices for her or his people, and they find ultimate happiness in the prospect of a new life together. A lost film.

The Greater Glory

1926

Mr. Wong, Detective poster
5.6

A chemical manufacturer is killed just after asking detective James Wong to help him. So detective Wong decides to investigate this as well as two subsequent murders.

Mr. Wong, Detective

1938