King Baggot

Acting · 0.5 popularity

Age

146

Movies

151

Born: November 6, 1879 – July 11, 1948
From: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William King Baggot (November 7, 1879 – July 11, 1948) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He was an internationally famous movie star of the silent film era. The first individually publicized leading man in America, Baggot was referred to as "King of the Movies", "The Most Photographed Man in the World", and "The Man Whose Face Is As Familiar As The Man In The Moon". Baggot appeared in over 300 motion pictures from 1909 to 1947, wrote 18 screenplays, and directed 45 movies from 1912 to 1928, including The Lie (1912), Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman (1925), and The House of Scandal (1928). He also directed William S. Hart in his most famous western, Tumbleweeds (1925). Among his film appearances, Baggot was best known for The Scarlet Letter (1911), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913), and Ivanhoe (1913). Baggot began his career on the stage, in a Shakespearean stock company, and toured throughout the U.S. While acting in stock in St. Louis in 1909, he was cast as supporting player in the Schubert touring production of The Wishing Ring. When The Wishing Ring closed in Chicago, Baggot returned to New York to join another company. Upon a chance meeting with Harry Solter, who was directing movies for Carl Laemmle at Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP), he was persuaded to go with Solter to the studio. Baggot became interested in the fledgling industry and decided to turn picture player. His first film was the romance short The Awakening of Bess (1909) opposite Florence Lawrence. It was directed by Harry Solter, her husband, at IMP in Fort Lee, New Jersey. At a time when screen actors worked anonymously, Baggot and Lawrence became the first "movie stars" to be given billing, a marquee, and promotion in advertising. Baggot starred in at least 42 movies opposite Lawrence from 1909 to 1911. In the latter year, he starred in at least 16 movies with Mary Pickford. He also began writing screenplays and directing, all the while becoming a major star internationally. When he appeared "in person" at theatres he was mobbed at stage doors. By 1912, he was so famous that when he took the leading part in forming the prestigious Screen Club in New York, the first organization of its kind strictly for movie people, he was the natural choice for its first president. King Baggot died in Los Angeles, California in 1948, age 68. For his contributions to the film industry, Baggot received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. His star is located at 6312 Hollywood Boulevard.

Works

151 films

The Philadelphia Story

19407.5

The Postman Always Rings Twice

19467.1

Honky Tonk

19416.4

A Night at the Opera

19357.4

Boys Town

19386.8

San Francisco

19366.6

Rio Rita

19426.0

The Big Store

19416.2

The Emperor's Candlesticks

19374.9

Too Hot to Handle

19386.0

Ziegfeld Girl

19416.7

The Bad Sister

19315.6

Swing Fever

19436.0

The Secret Heart

19466.5

Marie Antoinette

19386.6

Parnell

19374.6

Fingers at the Window

19425.7

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood

19455.8

The Devil-Doll

19366.8

The Death Kiss

19325.3

The Shadow of Lightning Ridge

19207.0

What Price Hollywood?

19326.8

Mississippi

19356.8

Sweepstakes

19315.7

It May Happen to You

19375.5

Opening Day

19386.5

Sweepstake Annie

19354.8

The Ghost Comes Home

19405.7

Cheating Cheaters

19347.0

The Ice Follies of 1939

19395.7

Come Live with Me

19416.8

The Call of the Savage

19356.0

The Thrill Chaser

19236.5

Over the Hills

1911

Arsène Lupin Returns

19386.3

Gallant Sons

19407.4

Beloved

19349.0

The Red Rider

19347.0

Her Cardboard Lover

19424.9

That Mothers Might Live

19386.2

3 Kids and a Queen

19356.8

Science

1911

Bitter Sweet

19406.0

The Big Flash

19325.7

The Suburban

1915

For the Queen's Honor

1911

Absinthe

1914

Jackass Mail

19427.5

I Loved a Woman

19334.8

The Butterfly Girl

19219.0

Graft

19315.0

Half a Rogue

1916

Torture Money

19376.3

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

19134.5

Sworn Enemy

19365.8

I Take This Woman

19405.8

The Man Who Stayed at Home

191910.0

Stronger Than Desire

19395.5

Father Brown, Detective

19346.5

A Cave Man Wooing

19126.0

Snow Gets in Your Eyes

19386.5

The Wanderer

19138.0

Dangerous Partners

19456.8

Dancing Co-Ed

19396.6

Police Court

19325.8

The Czar of Broadway

19309.0

The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

19365.7

The Forbidden Thing

19208.0

Chinatown Squad

19357.5

A Night at the Movies

19375.9

Kildare of Storm

1918

Holiday in Mexico

19466.7

Ivanhoe

19134.7

Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films

20119.0

Up Against It

19127.0

The Eagle's Eye

1918

Mad Holiday

19366.4

My Brother Talks to Horses

19477.5

Afraid to Talk

19326.5

Building for Democracy

19187.0

Stablemates

19386.3

The Silent Stranger

1916

His Second Wife

19107.0

The Governor’s Pardon

19107.0

Two Men

1910

The Dwelling Place of Light

19207.0

Romance in the Rain

19349.0

Merton of the Movies

19476.3

Think It Over

19387.3

In the Sultan's Garden

1911

Girl of the Rio

19325.6

A Notorious Gentleman

19356.5

The Doctor's Perfidy

19108.0

The Great Universal Mystery

19148.0

The Scarlet Letter

19111.0

The Marble Heart

1915

Life's Twist

19209.0

Sweet Memories

19114.0

The Hawk's Trail

191910.0

The Time-Lock Safe

1910

The Cheater

19208.0

The Man from Nowhere

1916

Transfusion

1910

Old Heads and Young Hearts

19109.0

The Better Way

1911

Mother Love

191010.0

At a Quarter of Two

1911

Shamus O'Brien

19129.0

The Stage Note

19109.0

The Mirror

1911

A Game of Deception

19119.0

The Fair Dentist

1911

The Count of Montebello

191010.0

Justice in the Far North

191010.0

The Wife’s Awakening

19117.0

The Winning Punch

19109.0

The Girl in the Taxi

19218.5

Second Sight

1911

Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens

19108.0

All the World’s a Stage

191010.0

The Rose's Story

1911

Love's Stratagem

19098.0

A Reno Romance

19109.0

The Maelstrom

19109.0

Mission of the War Chest

19189.0

At the Duke's Command

1911

The Blind Man’s Tact

19109.0

The Call of the Song

1911

The Temptress

19117.0

Pressed Roses

19108.0

Tracked

19119.0

The Tide of Fortune

19107.0

The Right of Love

191010.0

The Miser’s Daughter

19108.0

The Broken Oath

19109.0

The New Shawl

19108.0

The Secret of the Palm

19117.0

The Irony of Fate

19108.0

Debt

191010.0

Once Upon a Time

19107.0

The Awakening of Bess

19099.0

The Master and the Man

1911

A Game for Two

19108.0

The Rosary

191010.0

Jane and the Stranger

19108.0

The Call of the Circus

191010.0

The Taming of Jane

191010.0

Once a Gentleman

19309.0

The Eternal Triangle

19107.0

Pictureland

19115.5

While There is hope, There is Life

1911