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
Johann Graff
A Light in the Window
Col. Ben Cameron
The Birth of a Nation
Stage Actor (uncredited)
42nd Street
The Minstrel
The Sealed Room
Reverend Ashby Brand
Judge Priest
George Pickett Jr.
The Honor of His Family
The Nephew
The Avenging Conscience
Ben
I Am Not a Racist
Marcel
The Devil-Doll
Francisco Madero
Viva Villa!
Roger Chillingworth
The Scarlet Letter
Sir James Hamlin
London After Midnight
Dr. Manette
A Tale of Two Cities
Wheat King's Assistant
A Corner in Wheat
Father James
The Road to Mandalay
Duke Johann von Hatzfeld
Love Time
First Bandit
The Sheriff's Baby
Younger John Rogers
A Flash of Light
Fuller
The Trespasser
John Gaunt
Ride Him, Cowboy
Capt. Rhodes - Yacht Commander
Stark Mad
Bob Leadly
Somewhere in Sonora
The Father
Two Daughters of Eve
Jim Watson
In the Aisles of the Wild
Roger Prynne aka Roger Chillingworth
The Scarlet Letter
The Young Woman's Fiance
Love in an Apartment Hotel
The Stranger
During the Round-Up
The Green-Eyed Devil
The Father
If We Only Knew
The Prospector
The Tenderfoot's Money
Col. Peake
The Golden Bed
Lord Chumley
Lord Chumley
Actor In Oliver Twist
Brutality
Indian Charlie
My Hero
The Poor Man
The Stolen Loaf
Beth's Brother
A Gambler's Honor
The Station Agent
The Mirror
Abner Meadows
Helldorado
Joe, in love with May
The Odalisque
Holofernes
Judith of Bethulia
Robert Regent
Chandu the Magician
Jack Craiger
The Misleading Lady
enry B. Walthall
Men in White
Stephen Duane
Modern Husbands
Schultz
Dark Hazard
Capt. Buchanan
Hearts in Bondage
The Gopher
The Mysterious Shot
Robert Stevens
The Face on the Barroom Floor
Professor Leeds
Strange Interlude
The Indian Chief's Son
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch
The Husband
Death's Marathon
Charles Randolph - The Confederate Soldier
The House with Closed Shutters
The Poet
The Perfidy of Mary
Winthrop
Hotel Continental
Mark Armstrong
Klondike
Gale Gaylord
The Barrier
Nathaniel "Nat" Barry
Police Court
Marchant the Blind Man
Beggars in Ermine
Pop McWade
Dante's Inferno
The Wanderer
The Wanderer
The Switchman
The Switchtower
The Lord
Wilful Peggy
Henri Prevost
The Oath and the Man
The Trapper
Rose o' Salem Town
Boyd Milburn
The Phantom in the House
Dandy Jack
Friends
The Householder's Weakling Brother
The Burglar’s Dilemma
Soangataha / Strongheart
Strongheart
Eby
Central Park
John Howard Payne
Home, Sweet Home
Michael Lanyard
The False Faces
Alessandro
Ramona
Bernard Latham Wayne, alias Prof. Mysto
The Murder in the Museum
The Farmer
A Child of the Ghetto
Karl Breitman
A Splendid Hazard
Rev. Mr. James
The Flaming Signal
Colonel Henry Randolph Ransome
City Park
Dr. Amon
A Girl of the Limberlost
Peter Marchmont / Victor Cromport
The Unknown Purple
Mr. Maynard
Her Forgotten Past
Atwell
Alias Mary Smith
Jim Courtney
The Wolf Dog
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
The Actor
Her Mother's Oath
George Bennett
Three Faces East
The Old Man
The Old Man
Stephen Pryde
The Floor Above
Douglas Williams
The Mountain Rat
Colonel Marshall
Abraham Lincoln
Mr. Beaumont
Kentucky Pride
Eph Clinton
The Cabin in the Cotton
Duncan Irving
Classmates
Father Juniper
The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Porky Dugan
The Gangsters of New York
Sir James Hamlin (archive footage)
London After Midnight
John McGimsey
Gimme
Aaron Price
The Kickback
Woodsman
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
Pippa Passes
General Jeff Rumford
The River of Romance
George Mannister
The Long Arm of Mannister
Thorpe
Everybody's Acting
Miner
Getting Even
Mr. Evans
Anybody's Blonde
Amos Hatburn
Tol'able David
Robert, the Confederate son
In Old Kentucky
The Husband
Three Friends
Sir Roger Brighton
The Great Love
Indian
The Mended Lute
Cal Yates
The Last Outlaw
Badger Gang Member
A Woman in the Ultimate
A Thief
A Strange Meeting
Blackton
Temple Tower
Sarge
Me and My Gal
Mexican Man
The Broken Locket
The Lord
Love Among the Roses
David Burton
The Mine with the Iron Door
Mr. Armstrong
Wings
Dr. Samuel Webb
Kit Carson Over the Great Divide
John Phillips
The Unknown Soldier
Pedro
The Two Brothers
Fools of Fate
Clergyman in Alternate Version (uncredited)
Hold Your Man
Henry / Tommy Mooney
Retribution
Dr. Bradbroke
Black Magic
Karsten Bernick
Pillars of Society
Captain Alving / Oswald
Ghosts
J. D. Bradley
The Whispering Shadow
Perdita's Son
In Old California
Judge Beacon (uncredited)
Headline Shooter
Philip Whitemore
Flower of the North
Estrada
The Thread of Destiny
The Road Agent
Broken Ways
Party Guest
The Day After
One of the Second Debtors
The Usurer
Vincent, as an Adult
In Life's Cycle
The Lord
The Call to Arms
Bill
The Sorrows of the Unfaithful
The Mexican Lover
The Heart of an Outlaw
The False Brother
The Informer
The Husband
My Baby
The Husband
The One She Loved
A Psalm Singer
A Feud in the Kentucky Hills
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
Arthur Rogers (uncredited)
A Trap for Santa Claus
Father Bartlett
The Confession
Buffalo Bill Ryan
From Headquarters
William Hale
The Girl Who Wouldn't Work
The Valley Man
The Little Tease
First Partner
Two Men of the Desert
Piano player
Speakeasy
Col. Ben Cameron (archive footage)
Star Power: The Creation Of United Artists
Van Denbosch
Love Me and the World Is Mine
The Idealist
Oil and Water
Captain Adams
The Love Trader
Jonas Deering
The Lemon Drop Kid
His Last Burglary
The Converts
Thou Shalt Not
The Way of the World
The Gold Seekers
The Face at the Window
A Summer Idyll
The Iconoclast
In Club
So Near, Yet So Far
The Woodsman
The God Within
Henry Garnett
One Clear Call
Father Ryan
The Sin of Nora Moran
Henry Carver
The Plastic Age
William Latimer
Boy of Mine
Self (archive footage)
Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
The First Rival
The Lady and the Mouse
Dad Brunn
China Clipper
Edgar Allan Poe
The Raven
Filipo Navarro
Fighting Love
Sunbather
Pranks
John Ballard
Freedom of the Press
Walter Holden
The Kid
Harley P. Hennage
The Long Chance
Burke
Blaze o' Glory
Phil Langdon, Attorney
The Strange Case of Mary Page
Dr. Garden
The Garden Murder Case
Alachus' Friend
The Slave
Prosecuting Attorney
The Woman on the Jury
In Boarding House
The Little Darling
Billy Harvey
The Call
The Lover
The Command from Galilee
For His Sake
The President of the Republic
The Awakening of Donna Isolla
Souls Courageous
Macennas
The Armorer’s Daughter
The Gray of the Dawn
Victor Ratazzi
In Little Italy
The Father
The Cloister’s Touch
Mr. Wilson
On the Reef
Where the Sea and the Shore Doth Meet
Harry Sevier
The Long Lane's Turning
Confederate Corporal
In the Border States
Joe Jenkins
Parted Curtains
They Would Elope
Hector 'Humdrum' Brown
Humdrum Brown
Breezy Bright
The Able-Minded Lady
Doctor Borden
Self Defense
Erickson's Son
Rod of Wrath
Dr. Rownlee
The Outer Edge
Reverend Darwin Kirby
The Circular Path
Frank Bradbury
Temper
A Friend / At Station Reception
The Newlyweds
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
208
Gender
Male
Birthday
1878-03-15
Place of Birth
Shelby County, Alabama, USA
Also Known As
Henry B. Walthal