Cast

Max Linder

Acting

Cast

Max Linder

Known for

Acting

Born

1883-12-16

From

Cavernes, Saint-Loubès, Gironde, France

Died

1925-11-01

Also known as Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, Gentleman Max

Biography

Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years, and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. He started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character "Max", a top-hatted dandy. By 1912, he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was called up to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill-health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. He returned to France and killed himself in a suicide pact with his wife in 1925.

Max Linder

Max Linder

Biography

Max's First Job

Easter Parade

An Agitated Night

Le Petit Café

Max Embarrassed

Charlie the Innkeeper

Max Makes a Touch

Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty

Max and His Mother-in-Law

Seven Years Bad Luck

Max Juggles for Love

The Way of the World

Max émule de Tartarin

A Drama in Seaville

Life and Deaths of Max Linder

Birth of the Tramp

Max and His Dog Dick

The Barometer of Fidelity

The Little Vixen

The Three Must-Get-Theres

Max se marie

Max Takes Tonics

The False Max Linder

First Night Out

Max Takes Back His Freedom

Max Linder Collection 1917-1922

The Forced Marriage

Max the Heartbreaker

Max Linder Visits Charlie Chaplin

An Unexpected Marriage

All in Good Fun

Hairdresser of Love

The Theft of the Mona Lisa

In a Difficult Position

Romeo Turns Bandit

Max: Boxer By Love

Max in a Taxi

At the Show

Max and the Statue

Joined Lips

His First Cigar

Laugh with Max Linder

Chance and Love

King of the Circus

The Dentures

Max and the Lady Doctor

Pitou, bonne d'enfants

Harlequin's Story

Max a un duel

Max est distrait

C'est Papa qui a pris la purge

Max and the Jealous Husband

Max Speaks English

Max Linder Does All the Sports

Max Wishes He Hadn't

Troubles of a Grass Widower

In Love with the Bearded Woman

A Nervous Twitch Is Catching (Un Tic Nerveux Contagieux)

Au secours !

Max in Monaco

Cordial Agreement

Max Takes a Bath

Max and Jane Want to Do Theater

Max Learns to Skate

Max Skiing

Max as a Chiropodist

Max's Hat

Le duel de Max

Beginning of the Serpentine Dance

Le serment d'un prince

Max's Latest Hobby

Max Linder's Appointment

For a Necklace

Max manque un riche mariage

The Gentleman Thief

Max Fears the Dogs

Be My Wife