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 Garden Murder Case
as Dr. Garden
(1936)
The Mine with the Iron Door
as David Burton
(1936)
The Devil-Doll
as Marcel
(1936)
The Last Outlaw
as Cal Yates
(1936)
Hearts in Bondage
as Capt. Buchanan
(1936)
China Clipper
as Dad Brunn
(1935)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Dr. Manette
(1935)
Dante's Inferno
as Pop McWade
(1935)
Helldorado
as Abner Meadows
(1934)
Love Time
as Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
(1934)
Viva Villa!
as Francisco Madero
(1934)
Dark Hazard
as Schultz
(1934)
Beggars in Ermine
as Marchant the Blind Man
(1934)
The Scarlet Letter
as Roger Chillingworth
(1934)
City Park
as Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
(1934)
A Girl of the Limberlost
as Dr. Amon
(1934)
Men in White
as enry B. Walthall
(1934)
Judge Priest
as Reverend Ashby Brand
(1934)
The Murder in the Museum
as Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
(1934)
The Lemon Drop Kid
as Jonas Deering
(1933)
The Flaming Signal
as Rev. Mr. James
(1933)
Hold Your Man
as Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
(1933)
The Wolf Dog
as Jim Courtney
(1933)
42nd Street
as Stage Actor (uncredited)
(1933)
Headline Shooter
as Judge Beacon (uncredited)
(1933)
The Sin of Nora Moran
as Father Ryan
(1933)
The Whispering Shadow
as J. D. Bradley
(1933)
Her Forgotten Past
as Mr. Maynard
(1933)
Somewhere in Sonora
as Bob Leadly
(1932)
Police Court
as Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
(1932)
Alias Mary Smith
as Atwell
(1932)
Strange Interlude
as Professor Leeds
(1932)
Klondike
as Mark Armstrong
(1932)
Chandu the Magician
as Robert Regent
(1932)
The Cabin in the Cotton
as Eph Clinton
(1932)
Ride Him, Cowboy
as John Gaunt
(1932)
Me and My Gal
as Sarge
(1932)
Central Park
as Eby
(1932)
Hotel Continental
as Winthrop
(1932)
Self Defense
as Doctor Borden
(1931)
Anybody's Blonde
as Mr. Evans
(1930)
Abraham Lincoln
as Colonel Marshall
(1930)
Temple Tower
as Blackton
(1930)
The Love Trader
as Captain Adams
(1930)
Tol'able David
as Amos Hatburn
(1929)
The Jazz Age
as Mr Maxwell
(1929)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
as Father Juniper
(1929)
Speakeasy
as Piano player
(1929)
Blaze o' Glory
as Burke
(1929)
From Headquarters
as Buffalo Bill Ryan
(1929)
The River of Romance
as General Jeff Rumford
(1929)
Stark Mad
as Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
(1929)
The Phantom in the House
as Boyd Milburn
(1929)
Black Magic
as Dr. Bradbroke
(1929)
The Trespasser
as Fuller
(1928)
Retribution
as Henry / Tommy Mooney
(1928)
Freedom of the Press
as John Ballard
(1927)
Wings
as Mr. Armstrong
(1927)
A Light in the Window
as Johann Graff
(1927)
The Scarlet Letter
as Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
(1927)
London After Midnight
as Sir James Hamlin
(1927)
Love Me and the World Is Mine
as Van Denbosch
(1927)
Fighting Love
as Filipo Navarro
(1926)
Three Faces East
as George Bennett
(1926)
The Barrier
as Gale Gaylord
(1926)
Everybody's Acting
as Thorpe
(1926)
The Unknown Soldier
as John Phillips
(1926)
The Road to Mandalay
as Father James
(1925)
The Plastic Age
as Henry Carver
(1925)
The Golden Bed
as Col. Peake
(1925)
Kentucky Pride
as Mr. Beaumont
(1925)
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
as Dr. Samuel Webb
(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)
The Unknown Purple
as Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
(1923)
Boy of Mine
as William Latimer
(1922)
The Long Chance
as Harley P. Hennage
(1922)
The Able-Minded Lady
as Breezy Bright
(1922)
The Kickback
as Aaron Price
(1922)
One Clear Call
as Henry Garnett
(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 Boomerang
as George Gray
(1919)
The False Faces
as Michael Lanyard
(1919)
Modern Husbands
as Stephen Duane
(1919)
The Long Lane's Turning
as Harry Sevier
(1918)
The Great Love
as Sir Roger Brighton
(1918)
Humdrum Brown
as Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
(1916)
Pillars of Society
as Karsten Bernick
(1916)
The Misleading Lady
as Jack Craiger
(1916)
The Strange Case of Mary Page
as Phil Langdon, Attorney
(1915)
Ghosts
as Captain Alving / Oswald
(1915)
The Birth of a Nation
as Col. Ben Cameron
(1915)
Rod of Wrath
as Erickson's Son
(1915)
The Raven
as Edgar Allan Poe
(1915)
Temper
as Frank Bradbury
(1915)
The Outer Edge
as Dr. Rownlee
(1915)
The Circular Path
as Reverend Darwin Kirby
(1914)
The Mysterious Shot
as The Gopher
(1914)
The Avenging Conscience
as The Nephew
(1914)
Home, Sweet Home
as John Howard Payne
(1914)
The Gangsters of New York
as Porky Dugan
(1914)
The Mountain Rat
as Douglas Williams
(1914)
The Odalisque
as Joe, in love with May
(1914)
(1914)
Judith of Bethulia
as Holofernes
(1914)
The Old Man
as The Old Man
(1914)
The Floor Above
as Stephen Pryde
(1914)
Strongheart
as Soangataha / Strongheart
(1914)
Classmates
as Duncan Irving
(1914)
Lord Chumley
as Lord Chumley
(1914)
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
as The President of the Republic
(1913)
Broken Ways
as The Road Agent
(1913)
The Wanderer
as The Wanderer
(1913)
The Lady and the Mouse
as The First Rival
(1913)
Death's Marathon
as The Husband
(1913)
Her Mother's Oath
as The Actor
(1913)
The Stolen Loaf
as The Poor Man
(1913)
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
as The Indian Chief's Son
(1913)
The Perfidy of Mary
as The Poet
(1913)
Love in an Apartment Hotel
as The Young Woman's Fiance
(1913)
A Gambler's Honor
as Beth's Brother
(1913)
The Switchtower
as The Switchman
(1913)
Two Men of the Desert
as First Partner
(1913)
Oil and Water
as The Idealist
(1913)
A Woman in the Ultimate
as Badger Gang Member
(1913)
The Tenderfoot's Money
as The Prospector
(1913)
During the Round-Up
as The Stranger
(1913)
If We Only Knew
as The Father
(1913)
Three Friends
as The Husband
(1913)
The Little Tease
as The Valley Man
(1913)
The Mirror
as The Station Agent
(1913)
The Sheriff's Baby
as First Bandit
(1912)
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
as A Psalm Singer
(1912)
The Informer
as The False Brother
(1912)
The Burglar’s Dilemma
as The Householder's Weakling Brother
(1912)
So Near, Yet So Far
as In Club
(1912)
Brutality
as Actor In Oliver Twist
(1912)
My Hero
as Indian Charlie
(1912)
The One She Loved
as The Husband
(1912)
Two Daughters of Eve
as The Father
(1912)
Friends
as Dandy Jack
(1912)
My Baby
as The Husband
(1912)
The God Within
as The Woodsman
(1912)
In the Aisles of the Wild
as Jim Watson
(1911)
(1911)
(1911)
The Command from Galilee
as The Lover
(1910)
On the Reef
as Mr. Wilson
(1910)
A Flash of Light
as Younger John Rogers
(1910)
In Life's Cycle
as Vincent, as an Adult
(1910)
The Two Brothers
as Pedro
(1910)
(1910)
The Usurer
as One of the Second Debtors
(1910)
Love Among the Roses
as The Lord
(1910)
Rose o' Salem Town
as The Trapper
(1910)
The House with Closed Shutters
as Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
(1910)
The Call
as Billy Harvey
(1910)
(1910)
Wilful Peggy
as The Lord
(1910)
(1910)
The Honor of His Family
as George Pickett Jr.
(1910)
In Old California
as Perdita's Son
(1910)
In the Border States
as Confederate Corporal
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
The Oath and the Man
as Henri Prevost
(1910)
The Armorer’s Daughter
as Macennas
(1910)
A Child of the Ghetto
as The Farmer
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
The Tenderfoot's Triumph
as A Horse Thief
(1910)
(1910)
(1910)
The Call to Arms
as The Lord
(1910)
(1910)
The Kid
as Walter Holden
(1910)
Ramona
as Alessandro
(1910)
The Newlyweds
as A Friend / At Station Reception
(1910)
The Thread of Destiny
as Estrada
(1910)
The Cloister’s Touch
as The Father
(1909)
The Broken Locket
as Mexican Man
(1909)
The Sealed Room
as The Minstrel
(1909)
The Mended Lute
as Indian
(1909)
A Corner in Wheat
as Wheat King's Assistant
(1909)
(1909)
The Day After
as Party Guest
(1909)
The Heart of an Outlaw
as The Mexican Lover
(1909)
A Strange Meeting
as A Thief
(1909)
Getting Even
as Miner
(1909)
The Little Darling
as In Boarding House
(1909)
The Slave
as Alachus' Friend
(1909)
Pranks
as Sunbather
(1909)
A Trap for Santa Claus
as Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
(1909)
(1909)
In Little Italy
as Victor Ratazzi
(1909)
In Old Kentucky
as Robert, the Confederate son
(1909)
(1909)
(1908)
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
as Woodsman
Crew
(1915)
The Birth of a Nation
Assistant Director