Maurice George Costello (February 22, 1877 – October 29, 1950) was a prominent American

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s who later played a principal role in early American films as leading man, supporting player, and director.

Early life

Costello was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

immigrants Ellen (née Fitzgerald; born 1853) and Thomas Costello (born 1852). His father Thomas died while repairing a blast furnace at Andrew Carnegie's Union Iron Mill when Maurice was just five months old. He had a strongly Irish upbringing, living with his mother, her Irish brother, and many Irish immigrant boarders.

Career

Costello made his film debut in 1908, but was long believed to have debuted in '' Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom'' (1905), supposedly playing the lead in what is regarded as the first serious film to feature the character of

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

, since it was preceded only by the 30-second comedy film ''

Sherlock Holmes Baffled ''Sherlock Holmes Baffled'' is a very short American silent film created in 1900 with cinematography by Arthur Marvin. It is the earliest known film to feature Arthur Conan Doyle's detective character Sherlock Holmes, albeit in a form unlike th ...

'' (1900). However, Holmesian scholar Leslie S. Klinger has written that the identification of Costello in the role is flawed. Klinger states that the first identification of Costello with the role was in Michael Pointer's ''Public Life of Sherlock Holmes'' published in 1975 but Pointer later realized his error and wrote to Klinger stating Antony and Cleopatra 1908

Costello joined

Vitagraph Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...

, being a member of the first motion picture stock company ever formed, playing opposite

Florence Turner Florence Turner (January 6, 1885 – August 28, 1946) was an American actress who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films. Biography Born in New York City, Turner was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by he ...

. Among some of his best known pictures are ''A Tale of Two Cities'', ''The Man Who Couldn't Beat God'' and ''For the Honor of the Family''. Costello was notorious for his refusal to help build sets, insisting that he was "hired as an actor and nothing else", despite the common practice of the time. From this and his role as the creator of the first known school of screen acting, Costello is sometimes credited as "the father of screen acting". Costello was one of the world's first leading men in early American cinema, but like a lot of other silent screen stars, he found the transition to "talkies" extremely difficult. While his leading man status was largely lost, Costello continued to appear in movies, often in small roles and bit parts, right up until his death in 1950. Maurice Costello also discovered

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

of the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

, who, as a teenager, ran errands and got lunches for the actors at the Vitagraph Studios at no charge. This impressed Costello who brought him in and introduced him to other leading actors of the day. Moe then gained small parts in many of the Vitagraph movies but most of these were destroyed by fire that swept the studios in 1910.

Personal life

Costello was married to actress

Mae Costello Mae Costello (born Mae Altschuk; August 13, 1882 – August 2, 1929) was an American stage and film actress of the early twentieth-century. Early life Mae Costello was born Mae Altschuk in Brooklyn, New York to Catherine (''née'' Callender) an ...

(née Altschuk). On November 23, 1913, Costello was arrested for beating his wife Mae. On November 25, 1913, Costello admitted that he had beaten his wife while intoxicated. Mae Costello requested that the charges be dropped to disorderly conduct, and Costello was given six months probation by Magistrate Geisner of the Coney Island Police Court. Costello died at the age of 73 in 1950 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

of a heart problem''Los Angeles Times''
/ref> and was interred at

Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles runs in the community of East Los Angeles. It is also called "New Calvary Cemetery" because it succeeded the original Calvary Cemetery (on north Broadway), over whi ...

, a Catholic cemetery. His descendants include two daughters, actresses

Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903Costello's obituary in ''The New York Times'' says that she was born on September 17, 1905. – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ...

and

Helene Costello Helene Costello (June 21, 1906 – January 26, 1957) was an American stage and film actress, most notably of the silent era. Early life and career Born in New York City, Costello was the youngest daughter of the prominent stage and pioneering ...

, a grandson

John Drew Barrymore John Drew Barrymore (born John Blyth Barrymore Jr.; June 4, 1932 – November 29, 2004) was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and E ...

, and a great granddaughter

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

Filmography

References

External links

*
Biography at Hollywood Heritage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Costello, Maurice 1877 births 1950 deaths Male actors from Pittsburgh American male film actors American people of Irish descent American male silent film actors American male stage actors Vaudeville performers 20th-century American male actors Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)