Cast
Larry Semon
Directing
Cast
Larry Semon
Known for
Directing
Born
1889-07-14
From
West Point, Mississippi, USA
Died
1928-10-08
Also known as Lawrence Semon, ΠΠ°ΡΡΠΈ Π‘ΠΈΠΌΠΎΠ½, Lawrence "Larry" Semon
Biography
American silent film comedian whose hugely successful career disappeared virtually overnight, Larry Semon was the son of a traveling vaudeville magician, Zera the Great. He grew up in show business and was trained in stage comedy and acrobatics. A talent for drawing and cartooning led to art school and then work as a cartoonist for various New York City newspapers. The humor evident in his published cartoons prompted executives at New York's Vitagraph Studios to hire him as a gag writer in 1916. He quickly proved himself and was promoted to director for the Hughie Mack series of comedies. His background in magic helped him create interesting new gags for the comedian. When Mack left the studio in 1917, Semon took over the starring role himself. His one-reelers were quite successful, and Vitagraph sent him to California to participate in its new West Coast operation. He produced as well as wrote, starred in and directed his own films, at the same time also producing films for other comics. In the summer of 1928 Semon apparently fell ill with tuberculosis and simultaneously, it seems, suffered a nervous breakdown. He entered a sanitarium near San Bernardino, CA, where he reportedly died on October 8. However, an air of mystery surrounds his death, since his wife (and former co-star) Dorothy Dwan was allowed almost no contact with him and never saw his body, which was ordered cremated after a tightly secured funeral, which was carried out per Semon's "previous instructions" and to which almost no attendees were allowed. The whereabouts of Semon's cremated remains are to this day a mystery, and his widow professed until her death to be mystified by the circumstances of his passing. With enormous financial obligations facing him Larry Semon could easily have considered a dramatic escape of this sort from his creditors. Whether he did, or whether his death was the sad final chapter to a high-rising, briefly brilliant, but ultimately short-lived career may never be known for certain.
β
7.0
MOVIE1925
Go Straight!
as Self
β
4.9
MOVIE1920
The Suitor
as The Suitor
β
6.4
MOVIE1922
Golf
as The son
β
6.4
MOVIE1923
Lightning Love
as Larry, a Suitor
β
5.7
MOVIE1925
The Cloudhopper
as Borden Rhoom / Getz A. Bunn
β
6.7
MOVIE1921
The Sportsman
as The Sportsman
β
6.0
MOVIE1921
The Hick
as Larry, the Hick
β
5.6
MOVIE1920
The Fly-Cop
as The Fly Cop
β
6.5
MOVIE1917
Gall and Golf
as O.U. Dubb
β
7.0
MOVIE1916
Walls and Wallops
β
5.8
MOVIE1919
Scamps and Scandals
as Larry
β
8.0
MOVIE1917
Footlights and Fakers
β
7.0
MOVIE1917
Turks and Troubles
β
7.5
MOVIE1925
The Perfect Clown
as Bert Larry
β
5.5
MOVIE1925
The Wizard of Oz
as Scarecrow / Toymaker
β
6.3
MOVIE1922
The Counter Jumper
as Larry, the Counter Jumper
β
7.0
MOVIE1927
Underworld
as Slippy Lewis
β
6.3
MOVIE1917
Plagues And Puppy Love
as Larry
β
3.8
MOVIE1919
Between the Acts
as Larry, the Handy Man and a Drunkard
β
5.4
MOVIE1923
No Wedding Bells
as Larry
β
7.3
MOVIE1919
The Star Boarder
as Star Boarder / Little Joe, Escaped Convict
β
6.8
MOVIE1920
School Days
as Joe
MOVIE1918
Babes and Boobs
as A Boob
β
8.0
MOVIE1917
Jolts and Jewelry
β
5.8
MOVIE1919
The Grocery Clerk
as The Grocery Clerk
β
4.9
MOVIE1923
Horseshoes
as Larry
β
7.2
MOVIE1919
Passing the Buck
as The House Detective
β
6.8
MOVIE1917
Risks and Roughnecks
as Our Hero
β
7.0
MOVIE1919
Well, I'll Be
as The Sheriff
β
6.5
MOVIE1917
Tough Luck and Tin Lizzies
as Larry
β
4.7
MOVIE1921
The Bakery
as Larry, a Bakery Clerk
β
6.7
MOVIE1923
The Midnight Cabaret
as Larry, a Waiter
β
5.5
MOVIE1923
The Gown Shop
as Larry, a salesman
β
7.0
MOVIE1927
Oh, What a Man!
as The Detective
β
6.0
MOVIE1918
Bathing Beauties and Big Boobs
as Lawrence
β
5.8
MOVIE1918
Frauds and Frenzies
as Larry, First Prisoner
β
7.5
MOVIE1927
The Stunt Man
as Larry
β
7.0
MOVIE1919
The Head Waiter
as The Head Waiter
β
5.8
MOVIE1924
Her Boy Friend
as Larry, the Chief's son
β
7.0
MOVIE1922
The Show
as The Prop Man / Gentle Onlooker
β
6.8
MOVIE1921
The Bell Hop
as The Bellhop
β
8.0
MOVIE1917
He Never Touched Me
β
5.4
MOVIE1922
The Sawmill
as The Dumb-Bell
β
4.5
MOVIE1918
Romans and Rascals
as Caesar / A Minstrel
β
10.0
MOVIE1917
Big Bluffs and Bowling Balls
β
6.5
MOVIE1924
The Girl in the Limousine
as Tony
β
6.7
MOVIE1921
The Rent Collector
as Larry, the Rent Collector
β
6.5
MOVIE1919
Dull Care
as Larry, a Detective
β
8.5
MOVIE1918
Hindoos and Hazards
as Larry
β
5.1
MOVIE1918
Bears and Bad Men
as Larry Cutshaw
β
6.3
MOVIE1923
The Barnyard
as Lay Zee, Farm Hand
β
4.5
MOVIE1925
The Dome Doctor
as Peter Pep
β
8.0
MOVIE1927
Spuds
as Spuds
β
7.0
MOVIE1919
His Home Sweet Home
as The Husband
β
5.5
MOVIE1922
A Pair of Kings
as King August / Stranger
β
5.5
MOVIE1924
Kid Speed
as The Speed Kid
β
5.9
MOVIE1918
Huns and Hyphens
as Larry
β
8.0
MOVIE1917
Bullies and Bullets
β
5.1
MOVIE1918
Dunces and Dangers
as Larry
β
7.0
MOVIE1919
Dew Drop Inn
as Larry, the Detective
β
8.0
MOVIE1920
The Stage Hand
as The Stage Hand
MOVIE1917
Somewhere in Any Place
β
7.0
MOVIE1928
A Simple Sap
as It
β
4.9
MOVIE1921
The Fall Guy
as Larry, the Fall Guy
β
5.0
MOVIE1922
A Weakend Driver
β
7.0
MOVIE1928
Dummies
as The Entertainer
β
7.5
MOVIE1924
Trouble Brewing
as Government agent
β
6.0
MOVIE1918
Pluck and Plotters
as The Janitor
β
10.0
MOVIE1919
The Simple Life
as A Farmer's Boy
β
7.0
MOVIE1919
Traps and Tangles
as Detective Sparks