Lester H. Cuneo (October 25, 1888 – November 1, 1925) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
stage
Stage or stages may refer to:
Acting
* Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions
* Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage"
* ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper
* Sta ...
and
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
. He began acting in live
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
while still in his teens.
Early years
Born in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Cuneo attended
Culver Military Academy
Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school located in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver ...
and was a law student at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
when he turned to acting.
Career
Cuneo's stage career included work with stock theater companies in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Winnepeg.
[
Cuneo began a film career in 1912 with the Chicago-based ]Selig Polyscope Company
The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company that was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago. The company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films starring Tom ...
then joined Essanay Studios
The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company was an early American motion picture studio. The studio was founded in 1907 in Chicago, and later developed an additional film lot in Niles Canyon, California. Its various stars included Francis X. Bushman, ...
in 1914. Working in early Hollywood, his popularity increased after he switched from comedic roles to the increasingly popular western film
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
genre. However, his career was temporarily interrupted when he served with the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He served in France in 1917-1919 with the 33rd Division from Illinois.
At war's end, Lester Cuneo returned to film and in the early 1920s set up his own production company making primarily western films.
Personal life
He married actress Francelia Billington
Francelia Billington (February 1, 1895 – November 24, 1934) was an early American silent-screen actress, and an accomplished camera operator.
Early life
On February 1, 1895, Billington was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of James Billingt ...
in 1920 and had two children. The two made fourteen films together before their divorce in October 1925.
Death
Despondent over the breakdown of his marriage and the downhill slide of his film career, Lester Cuneo took his own life with a gunshot to the head in 1925. He was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries is an American corporation that owns and operates a chain of cemeteries and mortuaries in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties in Southern California.
History
The company was founded by a group of ...
in Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
. His year of death is printed on his gravemarker as 1926 which contradicts 1925, the year usually given.
Filmography
* ''Sons of the North Woods'' (1912)
* ''According to Law'' (1912)
* ''The Double Cross'' (1912)
* ''The Peculiar Nature of the White Man's Burden'' (1912)
* ''An Unexpected Fortune'' (1912)
* ''The Boob'' (1912)
* ''A Cowboy's Mother'' (1912)
* ''The Whiskey Runners'' (1912)
* ''An Equine Hero'' (1912) – Pete (half-breed)
* ''Circumstantial Evidence'' (1912) – Hort Ingles
* ''The Fighting Instinct'' (1912)
* ''The Brand Blotter'' (1912)
* ''The Cattle Rustlers'' (1912)
* ''Why Jim Reformed'' (1912)
* ''A Motorcycle Adventure'' (1912)
* ''The Opium Smugglers'' (1912)
* ''So-Jun-Wah and the Tribal Law'' (1912)
* ''Jim's Vindication'' (1912)
* ''The Dynamiters'' (1912) – Joe Thompson
* ''Between Love and the Law'' (1912)
* ''Roped In'' (1912) – The Cowboy
* ''The Ranger and His Horse'' (1912) – Pete Rogers
* ''Buck's Romance'' (1912) – Squaw's Father
* ''A Rough Rider With Nitroglycerine'' (1912)
* ''The Gunfighter's Son'' (1913)
* ''The Cowboy Editor'' (1913)
* ''Bud's Heiress'' (1913)
* ''A Canine Matchmaker; or, Leave It to a Dog'' (1913)
* ''How It Happened'' (1913)
* ''Bill's Birthday Present'' (1913)
* ''The Range Law'' (1913)
* ''The Bank's Messenger'' (1913)
* ''The Deputy's Sweetheart'' (1913)
* ''Juggling With Fate'' (1913) – Wallace
* ''The Sheriff of Yavapai County'' (1913) – The Frisco Kid (Apache Frank's partner)
* ''The Life Timer'' (1913) – Tom
* ''The Mail Order Suit'' (1913) – Steve
* ''His Father's Deputy'' (1913) – Sam Marvin (a crook)
* ''Religion and Gun Practice
''Religion and Gun Practice: The Way of the West'' is a 1913 American silent Western film directed by William Duncan and starring Tom Mix, Rex De Rosselli and Myrtle Stedman. Among other roles in similar films at the time, Tom Mix's role in '' ...
'' (1913) – Finely Overmeyer
* ''The Law and the Outlaw'' (1913) – Monty Ray
* ''An Embarrassed Bridegroom'' (1913)
* ''The Jealousy of Miguel and Isabella'' (1913)
* ''The Only Chance'' (1913) – Train Dispatcher
* ''Taming a Tenderfoot'' (1913) – Willie B. Clever (the tenderfoot)
* ''The Marshal's Capture'' (1913) – The marshal's wife's brother
* ''Sallie's Sure Shot'' (1913) – Coyote Jim
* ''Made A Coward'' (1913) – Tom Jones
* ''The Señorita's Repentance'' (1913)
* ''The Stolen Moccasins'' (1913) – Harden
* ''The Galloping Romeo'' (1913)
* ''How Betty Made Good'' (1913) – Jim
* ''The Rejected Lover's Luck'' (1913) Ben
* ''The Capture of Bad Brown'' (1913)
* ''The Cattle Thief's Escape
''The Cattle Thief's Escape'' is a 1913 American short silent Western film directed by and starring William Duncan. It co-stars Rex De Rosselli and Myrtle Stedman while Tom Mix appears in a supporting role. The film was produced by the Selig ...
'' (1913) – Charley Pointer
* ''The Silver Grindstone'' (1913) – Harry Custer
* ''Dishwash Dick's Counterfeit'' (1913) – Dick Mason
* ''Two Sacks of Potatoes'' (1913)
* ''The Schoolmarm's Shooting Match'' (1913) – Brown
* ''The Sheriff and the Rustler'' (1913) – The Sheriff
* ''The Child of the Prairies'' (1913) – Ed Dillon
* ''The Escape of Jim Dolan'' (1913) – Ed Jones
* ''Cupid in the Cow Camp'' (1913) – Arizona Bob
* ''The Rustler's Reformation'' (1913)
* ''Physical Culture on the Quarter Circle V Bar'' (1913) – Pete
* ''Buster's Little Game'' (1913) – Robins
* ''Mother Love Vs Gold'' (1913) – Jim Sykes
* ''By Unseen Hand'' (1914) – Warrington
* ''A Friend In Need'' (1914) – Girl's Father
* ''The Little Sister'' (1914) – First Badman
* ''A Mix-Up on the Plains'' (1914)
* ''A Romance of the Forest Reserve'' (1914)
* ''Marrying Gretchen'' (1914)
* ''Marian, the Holy Terror'' (1914)
* ''Algie's Sister'' (1914)
* ''Under Royal Patronage'' (1914) – Baron Spitzhausen
* ''The Plum Tree'' (1914) – Norris Griggs
* ''A Splendid Dishonor'' (1914) – Dr. Appledance
* ''The Moving Picture Cowboy'' (1914) – Director
* ''The Fable of the Author and the Dear Public and the Plate of Mush'' (1914)
* ''The Other Man'' (1914)
* ''In the Glare of the Lights'' (1914) – Joe Brandigan
* ''The Private Officer'' (1914) – Capt. Osborne
* ''His Dearest Foes'' (1914)
* ''The Prince Party'' (1914) – James Atteridge
* ''The Place, the Time and the Man'' (1914)
* ''Every Inch A King'' (1914) – King Livian
* ''The Loose Change of Chance'' (1914)
* ''The Way of the Woman'' (1914)
* ''The Shanty at Trembling Hill'' (1914)
* ''The Gallantry of Jimmy Rodgers'' (1915) – Ralph Morrison
* ''The Lieutenant Governor'' (1915) – Dennis McGrath
* ''The Ambition of the Baron
''The Ambition of the Baron'' is a 1915 American silent drama film. Gloria Swanson had a bit-part role.
Cast
* Francis X. Bushman
* Beverly Bayne
* Thomas Commerford
* Lester Cuneo
* Joseph Byron Totten
* Betty Brown
* Helen Dunbar
* Rich ...
'' (1915)
* ''Thirteen Down'' (1915) – Baron Schoman
* ''The Accounting'' (1915) – Sargall
* ''The Amateur Prodigal'' (1915)
* ''The Surprise of My Life'' (1915)
* ''The Strength of the Weak'' (1915)
* ''The Other Woman's Picture'' (1915)
* ''A Night In Kentucky'' (1915)
* ''Graustark
Graustark is a fictional country in Eastern Europe used as a setting for several novels by George Barr McCutcheon. Graustark's neighbors, which also figure in the stories, are Axphain to the north and Dawsbergen to the south.
Description
Gra ...
'' (1915) – Prince Gabriel
* ''The Mystery of the Silent Death'' (1915)
* ''The Conspiracy at the Chateau'' (1915)
* ''On the Dawn Road'' (1915) – Granger
* ''The Slim Princess
''The Slim Princess'' is a 1920 American silent comedy film starring Mabel Normand, directed by Victor Schertzinger, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, and written by Gerald C. Duffy based on a musical play of the same name by Henry Blossom and Lesl ...
'' (1915) – The Only Koldo
* ''The Second in Command
''The Second in Command'' is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by William J. Bowman and starring Francis X. Bushman and Marguerite Snow. The film is based on a 1901 Broadway play of the same name by Robert Marshall.
Cast
* Francis X. ...
'' (1915) – Lt. Sir Walter Mannering
* '' The Silent Voice'' (1915) – Bobbie Delorme
* ''Pennington's Choice
''Pennington's Choice'' is a 1915 American silent drama film directed by William Bowman and starring Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne a popular film acting team of the era. It was distributed by Metro Pictures.
In audio recordings made in ...
'' (1915) – Jean
* ''A Corner in Cotton
''A Corner in Cotton'' is a five-reel silent film melodrama produced in 1916 by Quality Pictures and distributed by Metro Pictures. The movie was filmed at studios in New York and California and on locations near Savannah, Georgia. ''A Corner in ...
'' (1916) – Willis Jackson
* ''The Come-Back'' (1916) – Mac Heberton
* ''The Masked Rider
The Masked Rider is the primary mascot of Texas Tech University. It is the oldest of the university's mascots still in existence today. Originally called "Ghost Rider", it was an unofficial mascot appearing in a few games in 1936 and then became ...
'' (1916) – Squid Archer
* '' The River of Romance'' (1916) – Reginald Williams
* ''A Virginia Romance
''A Virginia Romance'' is a 1916 silent short film directed by Charles Belmore and starring Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne. It was produced and distributed by Metro Pictures.
Writer Charles A. Taylor was at one time married to Laurette Tayl ...
'' (1916)
* ''Mister 44
''Mister 44'' is a 1916 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Henry Otto and starring Harold Lockwood, May Allison, Lester Cuneo, Yona Landowska, Henry Otto, and Aileen Allen. It is based on 1916 novel of the same name by E.J. Rath. The f ...
'' (1916) – Eagle Eye
* ''Big Tremaine
''Big Tremaine'' is a 1916 American silent romantic drama film directed by Henry Otto and starring Harold Lockwood, May Allison, Lester Cuneo, Albert Ellis, Lillian Hayward, and William Ehfe. It is based on the 1914 novel of the same name by ...
'' (1916) – Redmond Malvern
* ''Pidgin Island
''Pidgin Island'' is a 1916 American silent romantic drama film directed by Fred J. Balshofer and starring Harold Lockwood, May Allison, Pomeroy Cannon, Lester Cuneo, and Fred L. Wilson. It is based on the 1914 novel of the same name by Haro ...
'' (1916) – Donald Smead
* '' The Promise'' (1917) – Buck Moncrossen
*''The Hidden Children
''The Hidden Children'' is a 1917 American silent historical drama film directed by Oscar Apfel and starring Harold Lockwood, May Allison and Lillian West.Lowe p.9 It is based on a 1914 novel by Robert W. Chambers, set in Colonial America. Loca ...
'' (1917) – Lt. Boyd
* '' The Haunted Pajamas'' (1917) – Judge Billings
* ''The Hidden Spring
''The Hidden Spring'' is a 1917 American silent film, silent adventure film directed by E. Mason Hopper and starring Harold Lockwood, Vera Sisson and Herbert Standing.Connelly p.9
Cast
* Harold Lockwood as Donald Keeth
* Vera Sisson as Thora Eric ...
'' (1917) – Bill Wheeler
* ''Under Handicap'' (1917) – Brayley
* ''Paradise Garden
The paradise garden is a form of garden of Old Iranian origin, specifically Achaemenid which is formal, symmetrical and most often, enclosed. The most traditional form is a rectangular garden split into four quarters with a pond in the center, ...
'' (1917) – Jack Ballard
* ''Desert Love'' (1920) – The Whelp
* ''The Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
'' (1920) – 'Con' Norton
* ''Food For Scandal'' (1920) – Jack Horner
* '' Lone Hand Wilson'' (1920) – Lone Hand Wilson
* ''Are All Men Alike?
''Are All Men Alike?'' is a lost 1920 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Phil Rosen. It stars May Allison, Wallace MacDonald, and John Elliott, and was released on November 8, 1920.
Plot
Theodora Hayden, who gave herself the nick ...
'' (1920) – Raoul Uhlan
* ''The Ranger and the Law'' (1921) – Dick Dawson
* ''Blue Blazes'' (1922) – Jerry Connors
* ''The Masked Avenger'' (1922) – Austin Patterson
* '' Silver Spurs'' (1922) - Craig Hamilton
* ''Trapped in the Air'' (1922)
* ''In the Days of Buffalo Bill
''In the Days of Buffalo Bill'' is a 1922 American silent Western film serial directed by Edward Laemmle. The film, which consisted of 18 episodes, is currently classified as lost.
Cast
* Art Acord as Art Taylor
* Duke R. Lee as Buffalo Bil ...
'' (1922)
* '' Blazing Arrows'' (1922) – Sky Fire
* ''The Devil's Ghost'' (1922)
* ''The Vengeance of Pierre'' (1923)
* ''The Zero Hour'' (1923)
* ''The Eagle's Feather
''The Eagle's Feather'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film directed by Edward Sloman and starring James Kirkwood, Sr., James Kirkwood and Mary Alden. It was produced and distributed by Metro Pictures.
Cast
Pr ...
'' (1923) – Jeff Carey
* ''Fighting Jim Grant'' (1923) – Jim Grant
* ''Western Grit'' (1924) – Walt Powers
* ''Ridin' Fool'' (1924)
* ''The Lone Hand Texan'' (1924)
* ''Hearts of the West
''Hearts of the West'', released in Europe as ''Hollywood Cowboy'', is a 1975 American comedy film directed by Howard Zieff, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Jeff Bridges, Andy Griffith, Blythe Danner, and Alan Arkin. Set in 1930s ...
'' (1925)
* ''Two Fisted Thompson'' (1925)
* ''Western Promise'' (1925)
* ''Range Vultures'' (1925)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuneo, Lester
1888 births
1925 deaths
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male silent film actors
Male Western (genre) film actors
United States Army personnel of World War I
Male actors from Chicago
Suicides by firearm in California
20th-century American male actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
1925 suicides