Acting

William Fairbanks

Born 1894-05-24 · Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

From Wikipedia William Fairbanks (May 24, 1894 – April 1, 1945) was an American actor. He appeared in over 65 silent era motion pictures between 1916 and 1928. His first film role was as Capt. Pierre Thierry in the war drama Somewhere in France (1916) starring Louise Glaum and Howard C. Hickman. He was then living at 20 Horizon Avenue in Venice, California, where he registered to vote. He appeared in five movies released in 1917, including his role as Dillon in the drama The Little Brother starring Enid Bennett and William Garwood. He was then living at 115 Dudley Avenue in Venice, where he registered for the draft of World War I. He went on to serve as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. Appearing in only one movie released in 1918, as Stuart Morley in the comedy/drama The Hired Man starring Charles Ray and Charles K. French, he was then absent from the screen for over a year due to the war. In 1920, he lived at 1309 Ocean Front in Santa Monica, and four of his movies were released that year. He was elevated to star status by independent producers Phil Goldstone and Ben F. Wilson. His screen name, taken from that of Douglas Fairbanks, whose real surname happened to be the same as his, came about with the release of his starring role in Goldstone's western Hearts of the West (1920) opposite Frances Conrad. Although Fairbanks was a busy movie star through the greater part of the 1920s, after playing Long Collins in The Vanishing West (1928), he retired from the screen. In spite of sharing the same last name, William Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. were not related.

Acting credits

Speed Mad poster
7.0

Bill Sanford (William Fairbanks), a daredevil race-car driver, is abducted by his main competitor Alan Lawson (Lloyd Whitlock) and his henchmen, on the eve of a race he hopes will win him $5,000. But he escapes his captors and arrives ate the race track just in time to drive his speedster to victory. With the prize money, he saves the father, Charles Hampton (Charles K. French) of his sweetheart Betty Hampton (Edith Roberts) from losing the family.

Speed Mad

1925

Women First poster
7.0

Directed by B. Reeves Eason. With William Fairbanks, Eva Novak, Lydia Knott, Bob Rhodes.

Women First

1924

No artwork available
NR

Reed, a small-time baseball manager in love with Lucille Bascom, takes the blame for a game-fixing scandal to protect her brother, Phil, the team's star pitcher. Disgraced, Reed becomes a reporter and uncovers a plot by the game-fixer, Ward Hastings, and a corrupt wrestler, Butch, to oust Lucille’s father from his mayoral office. After a climactic confrontation where Hastings dies and Reed defeats Butch, Phil confesses, clearing Reed's name. Reed reunites with Lucille and is appointed the town's new police chief.

Catch-As-Catch-Can

1927

The Handsome Brute poster
8.0

After being wrongly dismissed from the New York City police department, police officer Larry 'O'Day (William Fairbanks) reveals an internationally-known detective John Granger (Lee Shumway) to be a cheap crook. He is promoted and reinstated and marries his ever-faithful sweetheart Nelly Egan (Virginia Lee Corbin.)

The Handsome Brute

1925

The New Champion poster
8.0

When prizefighter "Knockout" Riley (Frank Hagney) injures his hand in a car accident, Bob (William Fairbanks), a blacksmith's assistant enters a championship bout in his place...and wins the fight and the damsel.

The New Champion

1925

No artwork available
10.0

After Rex leaves his father to follow his dream of being a professional boxer, he becomes the trainer at a women's gym owned by his girlfriend.

The Winning Wallop

1926

No artwork available
10.0

When Danger Calls is a 1927 American silent thriller film directed by Charles Hutchison and starring William Fairbanks, Eileen Sedgwick and Ethan Laidlaw.

When Danger Calls

1927

What Women Love poster
7.0

Purity League father can't restrain his adventurous daughter from parading around in scanty bathing suits. Willy must learn how to fight in order to win her heart.

What Women Love

1920

The Down Grade poster
7.0

Ted Lanning works for his father's railroad company. He is demoted to a manual labor position on a dangerous mountain section of the track known as the "down grade". Ted must prove his worth while dealing with a gang of hijackers and competing for the affection of Molly Crane.

The Down Grade

1927

The Fatal Mistake poster
9.0

After being fired from his job on the Evening Star newspaper, cub reporter Jack Darwin (William Fairbanks) , with the help of an undercover police woman, Ethel Bennett (Eva Novak), prevents the theft of the valuable Riko jewels. Jack gets his job back...and marries Ethel.

The Fatal Mistake

1924

The Law Rustlers poster
7.0

Phil Stanley (William Fairbanks) and Harry Hartley (Edmond Cobb) are traveling toward Alaska when they come to a town controlled by scoundrels. The leaders of the town banish Phil and Harry, but they refuse to leave and send Glory (Ena Gregory) to summon the sheriff from a neighboring town to assist them. The sheriff comes to Phil's rescue and arrests the town council of scoundrels.

The Law Rustlers

1923

No artwork available
NR

When her baby daughter Eleanor is traumatized after her father perishes in a storm at sea, Mother Coutierre sends the girl to live with her aunt in Paris. Years later, Eleanor, now a successful model in Paris, is surprised by a visit from her elder sister Marie, who has come to hide the birth of her illegitimate child. When Mother Coutierre arrives and believes Eleanor to be the infant's mother, Eleanor continues the deception so that her sister can marry Pierre Bondel, a fisherman.

The Mother Instinct

1917

No artwork available
NR

Jim Walton, the sheriff of El Dorado, orders Joe Malone to stop working an abandoned mine that he has uncovered. Later, Malone recognizes Edith Strang, the dancing girl who is passing through town with the quack Doc Hamilton, as the rightful heir to the abandoned mine.

The Medicine Man

1917

Through Thick and Thin poster
7.0

An undercover agent tracks a gang of drug smugglers to their headquarters in Mexico, a nightclub, where he manages to get a job as a bouncer. There he meets and falls for a pretty young woman, whose father happens to be the man the agent suspects of heading the gang.

Through Thick and Thin

1927

Flying High poster
10.0

While taking a joyride with his sweetie Patricia, daredevil pilot Roy Cummins witnesses the aerial hijacking of a mail plane.

Flying High

1926

Wolf Lowry poster
6.0

Tom "Wolf" Lowry confronts new settlers in his valley but has a change of heart when he sees Mary Davis.

Wolf Lowry

1917

Under the Black Eagle poster
5.0

A German Shepherd Dog and the people he loves are entangled in World War One.

Under the Black Eagle

1928

The Battling Fool poster
9.0

William Fairbanks stars in this fighting feature about a rural rube who enters the ring to earn prize money to help a crippled girl.

The Battling Fool

1924

No artwork available
8.0

A girl leads the way across the great Oregon Trail.

Wyoming

1928

Spoilers of the West poster
7.0

A soldier falls in love with a beautiful settler who has refused his order to leave American Indian land.

Spoilers of the West

1927

A Fight to the Finish poster
10.0

Directed by B. Reeves Eason. With William Fairbanks, Phyllis Haver, Tom Ricketts, Pat Harmon.

A Fight to the Finish

1925

Spawn of the Desert poster
9.0

Guiding two covered wagons along a desert trail, Duke Steele meets and befriends Sam Le Saint, a mysterious hermit who is searching for a former partner who destroyed his home and ran away with his wife and infant daughter eighteen years earlier. Later, the two men ride into a mining camp controlled by Silver Sleed, who runs a gambling place. Duke is smitten by beautiful young Nola "Luck" Sleed, and learns that she is the gambler's daughter. Silver Sleed also happens to be the man that Sam Le Saint is searching for. Sam, who is dying, kills Sleed, and Duke learns that Luck is Sam's long-lost daughter.

Spawn of the Desert

1923

Fighting Youth poster
NR

Dick Covington is a society athlete who is quick with his fists. His fiancée, Jean Manley, hates his fighting and convinces him to stop. But then his rival tricks him into accepting an offer to fight Murdering Mooney at a charity show. At first Jean is chagrined, but when the rival insults her, she is anxious for Covington to beat his opponent.

Fighting Youth

1925

The Secret Gift poster
7.0

Jan Saxe and Peter Harlingen, two young men from Holland, arrive in America with little orphan Bertha Kruger whom they have befriended during the trip and whom they both love. Bertha has come to live with her blind Aunt Sophie, and when Jan secretly raises $500 for an operation to restore her aunt's sight, Bertha marries Peter, believing that he was the donor of the "secret gift."

The Secret Gift

1920