King Baggot

Acting

King Baggot

Born 1879-11-06 · Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William King Baggot (November 7, 1879 – July 11, 1948) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent film era. The first individually publicized leading man in America, Baggot was referred to as "King of the Movies", "The Most Photographed Man in the World", and "The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon". Baggot appeared in over 300 motion pictures from 1909 to 1947, wrote 18 screenplays, and directed 45 movies from 1912 to 1928, including The Lie (1912), Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1925), and The House of Scandal (1928). He also directed William S. Hart in his most famous western, Tumbleweeds (1925). Among his film appearances, Baggot was best known for The Scarlet Letter (1911), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913), and Ivanhoe (1913). Baggot began his career on the stage, in a Shakespearean stock company, and toured throughout the U.S. While acting in stock in St. Louis in 1909, he was cast as supporting player in the Schubert touring production of The Wishing Ring. When The Wishing Ring closed in Chicago, Baggot returned to New York to join another company. Upon a chance meeting with Harry Solter, who was directing movies for Carl Laemmle at Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), he was persuaded to go with Solter to the studio. Baggot became interested in the fledgling industry and decided to turn picture player. His first film was the romance short The Awakening of Bess (1909) opposite Florence Lawrence. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP in Fort Lee, New Jersey. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie stars" to be given billing, a marquee, and promotion in advertising. Baggot starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies with Mary Pickford. He also began writing screenplays and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president. King Baggot died in Los Angeles, California in 1948, age 68. For his contributions to the film industry, Baggot received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.

Acting credits

The Philadelphia Story poster
7.5

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

The Philadelphia Story

1940

Honky Tonk poster
6.4

Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.

Honky Tonk

1941

Ziegfeld Girl poster
6.6

Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.

Ziegfeld Girl

1941

The Secret Heart poster
6.5

Penny Addams lives in a constant state of depression stemming from the trauma of her father's death when she was just a young girl. Her brother, Chase, and stepmother, Lee, work to help Penny process her grief through psychotherapy and revisiting their past, but only the revelation of long-buried family secrets -- including her Lee's secret lover and the true nature of her father's death -- can bring Penny out of her intense despair.

The Secret Heart

1946

The Postman Always Rings Twice poster
7.1

A married woman and a drifter fall in love, then plot to murder her husband.

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1946

My Brother Talks to Horses poster
7.5

Living with his family in Baltimore, 9-year-old Lewie Penrose claims that he can converse with horses--and also pick the winners of upcoming races. When it appears as though Lewie is telling the truth, he attracts the interest of gambler Rich Roeder who needs a "sure thing" in the upcoming Preakness. Meanwhile, Lewie's older brother John carries on a romance with the lovely Martha.

My Brother Talks to Horses

1947

The Hawk's Trail poster
10.0

Through a forged will, a crook assumes control of a valuable estate. He poses as the brother of a dead man, and endeavors to dispose of the deceased man's two daughters, one of whom is in love with the forger's son.

The Hawk's Trail

1919

Boys Town poster
6.8

Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.

Boys Town

1938

The Devil-Doll poster
6.8

Respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to prison. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond, however, is consumed with hatred for those who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.

The Devil-Doll

1936

Mississippi poster
6.8

A young pacifist, after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in disgrace, joins a riverboat troupe as a singer, acquires a reputation as a crackshot after a saloon brawl in which the villain of the piece accidentally kills himself with his own gun, falls in love with his former fianceé's sister and finally bullies an apprehensive family into accepting him.

Mississippi

1935

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

Marie Antoinette poster
6.6

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

Marie Antoinette

1938

Parnell poster
4.6

Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.

Parnell

1937

Sweepstakes poster
5.7

A popular jockey is disbarred from racing after he's accused of throwing a race.

Sweepstakes

1931

The Big Store poster
6.3

A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.

The Big Store

1941

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

Rio Rita poster
6.0

Doc and Wishey run into some Nazi-agents, who want to smuggle bombs into the USA from a Mexican border hotel.

Rio Rita

1942

Too Hot to Handle poster
6.0

While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.

Too Hot to Handle

1938

San Francisco poster
6.6

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

San Francisco

1936

No artwork available
4.8

A young woman who works in the movie business buys a sweepstakes ticket that turns out to be a winner. Her stroke of luck changes her life around--and not necessarily for the better.

Sweepstake Annie

1935

The Emperor's Candlesticks poster
4.9

Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937

Come Live with Me poster
6.8

Seeking US citizenship, a Viennese refugee arranges a marriage of convenience with a struggling writer.

Come Live with Me

1941

Romance in the Rain poster
9.0

The publisher of a tabloid-type romance magazine decides to get some publicity by sponsoring a "Cinderella and Prince Charming" contest.

Romance in the Rain

1934

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood poster
5.8

When two bumbling barbers act as agents for a talented but unknown singer, they stage a phony murder in order to get him a plum role.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood

1945

Behind the camera

Gossip poster
7.0

Hiram Ward, a cynical businessman, is having trouble with his employees when Caroline Weatherbee arrives and claims to be a distant relative. Her natural charm brings about a peaceful settlement of a strike, but she returns to her southern home for fear of bringing scandal to Hiram.

Gossip

1923

Luring Lips poster
9.0

Dave Martin, receiving teller in a Wall Street bank, marries Adele, secretary to the office manager, Frederick Vibart, who visits their home and shows continued interest in her. When a loss of $50,000 is discovered at the bank, Dave comes under suspicion and is arrested and convicted.

Luring Lips

1921

Cheated Love poster
10.0

Sonya Schnoema, a Jewish girl, comes to the United States as an immigrant and works in her father's ghetto grocery store, where she gains the affections of a young settlement worker, David Dahlman. But she loves Mischa, a young doctor who soon arrives from Odessa, and to aid him financially, she distinguishes herself in the local Yiddish theater.

Cheated Love

1921

No artwork available
7.0

A swift moving drama of ritzy crooks and the New York Police. Pitfalls and dangers in the love story of a beautiful girl who was a "come on" for a gang of crooks, and a young Irishman who was "rarin' to go" in the brass buttons of a policeman

The House of Scandal

1928

Kissed poster
9.0

Constance Keener, who is betrothed to young millionaire Merton Torrey, confesses to him her desire for romance such as he does not give her. On the occasion of a masquerade ball, Torrey is unable to escort her; and while she is alone on the balcony, someone suddenly seizes and kisses her, then disappears. She attempts to discover her assailant's identity.

Kissed

1922

Tumbleweeds poster
6.1

William S. Hart stars in this 1925 silent film as a cowboy intent on claiming land during the 1889 land rush in the Oklahoma Territory. Though hardened from years of taming the new frontier, he falls in love with a beautiful woman. Before he settles down, however, he must contend with men who wish to bring him harm. In the prologue of the 1939 Astor Pictures revival of this film, Hart gives a moving eight-minute introduction-- the first and only time he appeared in a film accompanied by his striking voice.

Tumbleweeds

1925

Crossed Wires poster
7.0

Marcel Murphy, a telephone operator with society aspirations, overhears Mrs. Benson's conversation describing a party she is planning for her son, Ralph, and wangles an invitation by imitating Mrs. Benson's voice. At the party a maid accuses Marcel of the theft of another guest's jewelry, but she appeals to Mr. Benson, who covers up for her by describing Marcel as the daughter of an old friend and by secretly installing her in a hotel suite.

Crossed Wires

1923

The Gaiety Girl poster
9.0

Forced to abandon his ancestral castle, William Tudor accompanies his granddaughter Irene to London, while millionaire John Kershaw buys the castle for his son, "Kit." Irene joins the Gaiety Theatre company, hoping that her lover, Owen, who has gone to Africa, will return and purchase the castle from the Kershaws.

The Gaiety Girl

1924

No artwork available
NR

Against the wishes of his mother, Marty Kruger becomes a jockey, like his father, and soon gains an outstanding reputation. He joins the Tupper stables and, despite the tyranny of trainer Hippo Devlin, finds happiness in his work and falls in love with Katie Kelly, a lunchroom waitress. They are engaged at the time Marty is laid up by an accident, and as he returns to the track overweight, Devlin forces him to reduce to the point of endangering his health. "Silk" Conlon, representing betting interests, wants the Tupper entry to lose the race and tries to bribe Marty into eating a square meal; but he refuses for fear of disgrace, and though he wins the race, he faints from weakness. Tupper thrashes the trainer and fires him, and when Marty and Katie are married, Marty is made Devlin's successor.

Down the Stretch

1927

Romance of a Rogue poster
10.0

A low-key silent drama of a man seeking vengeance on the villain whose lies sent him to prison on the night of his wedding.

Romance of a Rogue

1928

No artwork available
NR

The man is a mystery in the little town. He lives alone in his cabin and will not meet the advanced of his neighbors. One night he talks and tells the story of his life. He had been a prosperous lawyer in an eastern town and was engaged to be married to the sweetest of girls. The night before the wedding day she died and in his anguish he called in the devil. The devil said that he would bring back the departed life, but that if the man laughed he would lose his love again. And in the man's joy at his sweetheart's recovery he forgot and laughed and straight the girl died. "Here is Satan now," said the man, as he fell over dead.

The Silent Stranger

1916

Human Hearts poster
10.0

Innocent country boy Tom Logan is taken in by the scheming Barbara Kay, a city woman who knows Tom is set to inherit his fathers farm which sits on a rich coal field. Toms father sees through her plot and disinherits him when her marries Barbara. When Barbara tires of farm life, the ensuing events lead to death and misplaced guilt.

Human Hearts

1922

The Lavender Bath Lady poster
9.0

Young shop-girl Mamie Conroy and wealthy Jeanette Gregory become close friends. When Mamie foils an attempted abduction of Jeanette, the latter's grandfather, Simon Gregory, brings Mamie into his home and treats her like a member of the family. But she is again involved in a kidnapping attempt and is herself accused of robbery.

The Lavender Bath Lady

1922

The Tornado poster
9.0

a tornado, flood, and log jam of astounding realism..a love theme as overwhelming as the tornado itself, acclaimed by critics as the most thrilling screen drama ever presented.

The Tornado

1925

Lovey Mary poster
8.0

Lovely Mary, an orphan girl, reluctantly takes charge of her sister's child when her sister Kate is jailed.

Lovey Mary

1926

The Kentucky Derby poster
7.5

Posing as relatives, Ralph and Helen Gordon visit Col. Moncrief Gordon's Kentucky mansion, hoping to marry Helen to the colonel's son, Donald. The colonel agrees, but Donald balks at the suggestion, then reveals his secret marriage to Alice Brown. The colonel turns them out, and Ralph conspires with Bob Thurston to frame Donald for theft of Colonel Gordon's wager money and to shanghai him. After 3 years Donald discovers the source of his misfortune, returns, finds his wife, hears of a plot against his father's best racehorse, wrings a complete confession from Thurston, and saves the Derby for his repentant father.

The Kentucky Derby

1922

The Love Letter poster
9.0

While working in an overall factory Mary Ann McKee sends mash notes in the overalls prepared for shipment. She is involved in a robbery perpetrated by her boyfriend, Red Mike, but escapes and goes to the town from which she has received an answer to one of her notes.

The Love Letter

1923

The Darling of New York poster
8.0

Santussa, an orphan who becomes separated from her nurse en route to America to live with her grandfather, is cared for by gangsters who hide their stolen jewels in her ragdoll. In New York, Big Mike, finding Santussa a nuisance, dumps her and the doll in a trash can, where a newsboy finds her. After several adventures, Santussa finds her grandfather, the jewels are handed over to customs officials, and the gang of crooks is reformed.

The Darling of New York

1923

Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman poster
6.4

Raffles is an English gentleman with a secret life—he is the notorious jewel thief known as "The Amateur Cracksman." While sailing from India to England accompanied by his friend, Bunny Manners, it is rumored that the infamous cracksman is aboard ship. Raffles warns a lady passenger to keep an eye on her necklace, which is stolen soon afterward. Although a search reveals no evidence, the necklace is returned upon reaching London.

Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman

1925

Nobody's Fool poster
10.0

Unattractive and poor Polly Gordon, is taken to the college dance by eligible Vincent DePuyster only as part of a fraternity initiation. Suitors flock to her, however, when she inherits half a million dollars from her aunt, but she grows cynical and dismisses them.

Nobody's Fool

1921

The Home Maker poster
7.0

A man's life seems to be falling apart. He's bored with his job, gets passed over for a promotion and, when the pressures get to be too much, he tries to commit suicide, but he even fails at that and manages only to cripple himself instead of killing himself. Forced to stay at home, he finds the role of "househusband" enjoyable--until his wife takes a low-paying job with his old company, and rapidly rises up the corporate ladder.

The Home Maker

1925

Moonlight Follies poster
10.0

Vivacious Marie Prevost starred in this pleasant little Universal comedy about a flirt who stages moonlight dances at her father's country estate in order to provoke eligible men to fall in love with her.

Moonlight Follies

1921

A Dangerous Game poster
8.0

Gretchen Ann runs away from her foster parents but is sheltered first by Bill Kelley, a train brakeman, then by elderly oilman Pete Sebastian. After Gretchen keeps Sebastian from being duped by a medium, he sends her to a fashionable school, asking that she agree to marry him when she returns.

A Dangerous Game

1922

The Notorious Lady poster
7.5

A man kills a man he finds alone with his wife. Although she is innocent of any wrong doing the wife claims to be guilty of having an affair to save her husband from a death sentence. Unfortunately, the husband also believes her guilt and so he runs off to Africa to forget and assumes a new identity.

The Notorious Lady

1927