Henry B. Walthall
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1878-03-15
Day of Death
1936-06-17 (58 years old)
Place of Birth
Shelby County, Alabama, USA
Henry B. Walthall
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henry Brazeale Walthall (March 16, 1878 – June 17, 1936) was an American stage and film actor. He appeared as the Little Colonel in D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). In New York in 1901, Walthall won a role in Under Southern Skies by Charlotte Blair Parker. He performed in the play for three years, in New York and on tour. With the company of Henry Miller he gained recognition on Broadway in plays including Pippa Passes, The Only Way and William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide (1906–08). His fellow cast member James Kirkwood introduced Walthall to D. W. Griffith, and at the conclusion of that engagement, Walthall joined the Biograph Company.
His career in movies began in 1909 at Biograph Studios in New York with a leading role in the film A Convict's Sacrifice. This film also featured James Kirkwood, and was directed by D. W. Griffith, a director that played a huge part in Walthall's rise to stardom. As the industry grew in size and popularity, Griffith emerged as a director and Walthall found himself a mainstay of the Griffith company, frequently working alongside such Griffith regulars as Owen Moore, Kate Bruce, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mae Marsh, Bobby Harron and Jack and Mary Pickford. He followed Griffith's departure from New York's Biograph to California's Reliance-Majestic Studios in 1913. After a few months with Reliance, he joined Pathé for a short period.
He decided to go into the producing business and formed The Union Feature Film Company, the first to be devoted entirely to full-length films. The venture was not successful, however, and he again became associated with Griffith's company.
Given the relatively short length of films in the early years, Walthall frequently found himself cast in dozens of films each year. He gained national attention in 1915 for his role as Colonel Ben Cameron in Griffith's highly influential and controversial epic, The Birth of a Nation. Walthall's portrayal of a Confederate veteran rounding up the Ku Klux Klan won him large-scale fame, and Walthall was soon able to emerge as a leading actor in the years leading up to the 1920s, parting ways with Griffith.
Walthall continued working in films through the 1920s, appearing in The Plastic Age with Gilbert Roland and Clara Bow. He portrayed Roger Chillingworth in Victor Seastrom's 1926 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter opposite Lillian Gish.
Walthall continued his career into the 1930s. After his performance in director John Ford's 1934 film Judge Priest starring Will Rogers he enjoyed a golden period of his career. He portrayed Dr. Manette in A Tale of Two Cities (1935), starring Ronald Colman. In 1936 he appeared as Marcel in The Devil-Doll. He was gravely ill during his final film, China Clipper.
Frank Capra wanted Walthall to portray the High Lama in his 1937 film, Lost Horizon. "Frail and failing, he died before we could test him," Capra wrote.
Walthall has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.
Known For
Acting
(2019)
I Am Not a Racist
as Ben
(2002)
London After Midnight
as Sir James Hamlin (archive footage)
(1998)
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
as Col. Ben Cameron (archive footage)
(1975)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
as Self (archive footage)
(1942)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
as Self (archive footage)
(1936)
The Devil-Doll
as Marcel
(1936)
Hearts in Bondage
as Capt. Buchanan
(1936)
China Clipper
as Dad Brunn
(1936)
The Garden Murder Case
as Dr. Garden
(1936)
The Last Outlaw
as Cal Yates
(1936)
The Mine with the Iron Door
as David Burton
(1935)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Dr. Manette
(1935)
Dante's Inferno
as Pop McWade
(1935)
Helldorado
as Abner Meadows
(1934)
Men in White
as enry B. Walthall
(1934)
Viva Villa!
as Francisco Madero
(1934)
A Girl of the Limberlost
as Dr. Amon
(1934)
Beggars in Ermine
as Marchant the Blind Man
(1934)
City Park
as Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
(1934)
Judge Priest
as Reverend Ashby Brand
(1934)
The Murder in the Museum
as Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
(1934)
Love Time
as Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
(1934)
Dark Hazard
as Schultz
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Roger Chillingworth
(1934)
The Lemon Drop Kid
as Jonas Deering
(1933)
42nd Street
as Stage Actor (uncredited)
(1933)
Hold Your Man
as Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
(1933)
The Sin of Nora Moran
as Father Ryan
(1933)
Headline Shooter
as Judge Beacon (uncredited)
(1933)
The Wolf Dog
as Jim Courtney
(1933)
Somewhere in Sonora
as Bob Leadly
(1933)
The Whispering Shadow
as J. D. Bradley
(1933)
The Flaming Signal
as Rev. Mr. James
(1933)
Her Forgotten Past
as Mr. Maynard
(1932)
Chandu the Magician
as Robert Regent
(1932)
Ride Him, Cowboy
as John Gaunt
(1932)
The Cabin in the Cotton
as Eph Clinton
(1932)
Me and My Gal
as Sarge
(1932)
Klondike
as Mark Armstrong
(1932)
Central Park
as Eby
(1932)
Strange Interlude
as Professor Leeds
(1932)
Police Court
as Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
(1932)
Hotel Continental
as Winthrop
(1932)
Alias Mary Smith
as Atwell
(1932)
Self Defense
as Doctor Borden
(1931)
Anybody's Blonde
as Mr. Evans
(1930)
Abraham Lincoln
as Colonel Marshall
(1930)
Tol'able David
as Amos Hatburn
(1930)
Temple Tower
as Blackton
(1930)
The Love Trader
as Captain Adams
(1929)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Father Juniper
(1929)
The Trespasser
as Fuller
(1929)
Speakeasy
as Piano player
(1929)
From Headquarters
as Buffalo Bill Ryan
(1929)
The Phantom in the House
as Boyd Milburn
(1929)
The River of Romance
as General Jeff Rumford
(1929)
Stark Mad
as Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
(1929)
Blaze o' Glory
as Burke
(1929)
Black Magic
as Dr. Bradbroke
(1928)
Retribution
as Henry / Tommy Mooney
(1928)
Freedom of the Press
as John Ballard
(1927)
Wings
as Mr. Armstrong
(1927)
London After Midnight
as Sir James Hamlin
(1927)
The Scarlet Letter
as Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
(1927)
Fighting Love
as Filipo Navarro
(1927)
A Light in the Window
as Johann Graff
(1927)
Love Me and the World Is Mine
as Van Denbosch
(1926)
Everybody's Acting
as Thorpe
(1926)
The Road to Mandalay
as Father James
(1926)
The Barrier
as Gale Gaylord
(1926)
The Unknown Soldier
as John Phillips
(1926)
Three Faces East
as George Bennett
(1925)
The Plastic Age
as Henry Carver
(1925)
Kentucky Pride
as Mr. Beaumont
(1925)
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
as Dr. Samuel Webb
(1925)
The Golden Bed
as Col. Peake
(1925)
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work
as William Hale
(1924)
The Woman on the Jury
as Prosecuting Attorney
(1923)
The Face on the Barroom Floor
as Robert Stevens
(1923)
Gimme
as John McGimsey
(1923)
Boy of Mine
as William Latimer
(1923)
The Unknown Purple
as Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
(1922)
The Kickback
as Aaron Price
(1922)
One Clear Call
as Henry Garnett
(1922)
The Long Chance
as Harley P. Hennage
(1922)
The Able-Minded Lady
as Breezy Bright
(1921)
Flower of the North
as Philip Whitemore
(1920)
The Confession
as Father Bartlett
(1920)
A Splendid Hazard
as Karl Breitman
(1920)
Parted Curtains
as Joe Jenkins
(1919)
The Long Arm of Mannister
as George Mannister
(1919)
The False Faces
as Michael Lanyard
(1919)
Modern Husbands
as Stephen Duane
(1919)
(1918)
The Great Love
as Sir Roger Brighton
(1918)
Humdrum Brown
as Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
(1916)
The Strange Case of Mary Page
as Phil Langdon, Attorney
(1916)
Pillars of Society
as Karsten Bernick
(1916)
The Misleading Lady
as Jack Craiger
(1915)
The Birth of a Nation
as Col. Ben Cameron
(1915)
The Raven
as Edgar Allan Poe
(1915)
Ghosts
as Captain Alving / Oswald
(1915)
The Circular Path
as Reverend Darwin Kirby
(1915)
Rod of Wrath
as Erickson's Son
(1915)
Temper
as Frank Bradbury
(1915)
The Outer Edge
as Dr. Rownlee
(1914)
Home, Sweet Home
as John Howard Payne
(1914)
The Avenging Conscience
as The Nephew
(1914)
Judith of Bethulia
as Holofernes
(1914)
The Gangsters of New York
as Porky Dugan
(1914)
The Floor Above
as Stephen Pryde
(1914)
The Odalisque
as Joe, in love with May
(1914)
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
as The President of the Republic
(1914)
Strongheart
as Soangataha / Strongheart
(1914)
Lord Chumley
as Lord Chumley
(1914)
The Old Man
as The Old Man
(1914)
The Mountain Rat
as Douglas Williams
(1914)
(1914)
The Mysterious Shot
as The Gopher
(1914)
Classmates
as Duncan Irving
(1913)
Two Men of the Desert
as First Partner
(1913)
The Sheriff's Baby
as First Bandit
(1913)
Death's Marathon
as The Husband
(1913)
Oil and Water
as The Idealist
(1913)
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
as The Indian Chief's Son
(1913)
The Perfidy of Mary
as The Poet
(1913)
The Wanderer
as The Wanderer
(1913)
The Mirror
as The Station Agent
(1913)
The Lady and the Mouse
as The First Rival
(1913)
The Switchtower
as The Switchman
(1913)
Broken Ways
as The Road Agent
(1913)
Love in an Apartment Hotel
as The Young Woman's Fiance
(1913)
The Stolen Loaf
as The Poor Man
(1913)
The Little Tease
as The Valley Man
(1913)
A Woman in the Ultimate
as Badger Gang Member
(1913)
Her Mother's Oath
as The Actor
(1913)
Three Friends
as The Husband
(1913)
A Gambler's Honor
as Beth's Brother
(1913)
The Tenderfoot's Money
as The Prospector
(1913)
If We Only Knew
as The Father
(1913)
During the Round-Up
as The Stranger
(1912)
So Near, Yet So Far
as In Club
(1912)
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
as A Psalm Singer
(1912)
The Informer
as The False Brother
(1912)
In the Aisles of the Wild
as Jim Watson
(1912)
Friends
as Dandy Jack
(1912)
My Baby
as The Husband
(1912)
Brutality
as Actor In Oliver Twist
(1912)
The One She Loved
as The Husband
(1912)
Two Daughters of Eve
as The Father
(1912)
The God Within
as The Woodsman
(1912)
The Burglar’s Dilemma
as The Householder's Weakling Brother
(1912)
My Hero
as Indian Charlie
(1911)
(1911)
The Command from Galilee
as The Lover
(1911)
(1910)
A Flash of Light
as Younger John Rogers
(1910)
Ramona
as Alessandro
(1910)
The Call to Arms
as The Lord
(1910)
A Child of the Ghetto
as The Farmer
(1910)
In the Border States
as Confederate Corporal
(1910)
The Honor of His Family
as George Pickett Jr.
(1910)
In Old California
as Perdita's Son
(1910)
The Usurer
as One of the Second Debtors
(1910)
The Thread of Destiny
as Estrada
(1910)
The Two Brothers
as Pedro
(1910)
Wilful Peggy
as The Lord
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
The Call
as Billy Harvey
(1910)
(1910)
The House with Closed Shutters
as Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
(1910)
The Oath and the Man
as Henri Prevost
(1910)
The Armorer’s Daughter
as Macennas
(1910)
On the Reef
as Mr. Wilson
(1910)
(1910)
Rose o' Salem Town
as The Trapper
(1910)
(1910)
Love Among the Roses
as The Lord
(1910)
The Kid
as Walter Holden
(1910)
The Cloister’s Touch
as The Father
(1910)
In Life's Cycle
as Vincent, as an Adult
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
(1909)
Getting Even
as Miner
(1909)
(1909)
The Broken Locket
as Mexican Man
(1909)
The Sealed Room
as The Minstrel
(1909)
(1909)
The Mended Lute
as Indian
(1909)
(1909)
The Little Darling
as In Boarding House
(1909)
In Old Kentucky
as Robert, the Confederate son
(1909)
A Strange Meeting
as A Thief
(1909)
A Corner in Wheat
as Wheat King's Assistant
(1909)
The Day After
as Party Guest
(1909)
The Heart of an Outlaw
as The Mexican Lover
(1909)
A Trap for Santa Claus
as Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
(1909)
(1909)
In Little Italy
as Victor Ratazzi
(1909)
The Slave
as Alachus' Friend
(1909)
Pranks
as Sunbather
(1908)
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
as Woodsman
Crew
(1915)
The Birth of a Nation
Assistant Director