Oscar C. Apfel (January 17, 1878 – March 21, 1938) was an American film actor, director, screenwriter and producer. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1913 and 1939, and also directed 94 films between 1911 and 1927.
Biography
Apfel was born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ohio. After a number of years in commerce, he decided to adopt the stage as a profession.
[Carolyn Lowrey (1920) ''The First One Hundred Noted Men and Women of the Screen'', Moffat, Yard and Company, New York] He secured his first professional engagement in 1900, in his hometown. He rose rapidly and soon held a position as director and producer and was at the time noted as being the youngest stage director in America.
[ He spent eleven years on the stage on Broadway then joined the ]Edison Manufacturing Company
The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 188 ...
. Apfel first directed for Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated (originally the National Phonograph Company) was the main holding company for the various manufacturing companies established by the inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. It was a successor to Edison Manufacturin ...
in 1911–12, where he made the innovative short film '' The Passer-By'' (1912). He also did some experimental work at Edison's laboratory in Orange, on the Edison Talking Pictures devices.[
]
Lasky
When Apfel left the Edison company, he joined Reliance-Majestic Studios
Reliance-Majestic Studios was an early American movie studio in Hollywood, California, originally built around 1914 at 4516 Sunset Boulevard.
Within a few years, it became the home of D. W. Griffith and Mutual Film Corporation. The studio's na ...
, remaining with them eighteen months.[ In 1913, he became one of two main directors for the ]Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company
Jesse Louis Lasky (September 13, 1880 – January 13, 1958) was an American pioneer motion picture producer who was a key founder of what was to become Paramount Pictures, and father of screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky Jr.
Early life
Born in to ...
, the other being Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cine ...
. All the first Lasky pictures were produced under his direction. Among these were the notable successes '' The Squaw Man'' (1914), ''Brewster's Millions'', ''The Master Mind'', ''The Only Son'', ''The Ghost Breaker'', ''The Man on the Box'', ''The Circus Man'' and ''Cameo Kirby''.[
Apfel's directorial collaboration with DeMille was a crucial element in the development of DeMille's filmmaking technique.
]
Fox
In late 1914, Apfel left the Lasky Company and directed for various companies into the 1920s. His first move was to the producing staff of the William Fox Corporation where he directed a series of pictures in which William Farnum
William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American actor. He was a star of American silent film cinema and became one of the highest-paid actors during that time.
Biography
Farnum was born on July 4, 1876, in Boston, Massachuse ...
starred. Some of these were '' A Soldier's Oath'', ''Fighting Blood'', ''The End of the Trail'', ''The Battle of Hearts
''The Battle of Hearts'' is a 1916 American silent drama film written and directed by Oscar Apfel, and produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. It starred William Farnum and Elda Furry (later known as Hedda Hopper). The story was by F ...
'' and ''A Man of Sorrow
''A Man of Sorrow'' is a lost 1916 American drama film produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation and starring William Farnum. Oscar Apfel directed and wrote the scenario based on a play, ''Hoodman Blind'', by Wilson Barrett. ''.[
]
Paralta
For the Paralta Company, to whom Apfel went after leaving the Fox Corporation, he produced Peter Kyne's ''A Man's a Man'' and ''The Turn of a Card'' in which J. Warren Kerrigan starred.[
]
Armenian relief
'' Auction of Souls'' (1919), a public-awareness picture for the Armenian Relief Committee, was Apfel's work. This production commanded wide attention and attracted great crowds at the special showings which took place at the Plaza and other prominent hotels. The sympathetic interest evoked by its revelations helped in materially adding to the large sums that were subscribed to this cause.[
A series of pictures for the ]World Film Corporation
The World Film Company or World Film Corporation was an American film production and distribution company, organized in 1914 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Short-lived but significant in American film history, World Film was created by financier and fil ...
, starring Kitty Gordon, Montague Love, June Elvidge, Louise Huff, and Evelyn Greeley
Evelyn Greeley (1888–1975) was a prominent actress in silent films. She appeared in approximately 30 films from 1915 to 1922.
Early life and education
Evelyn Greeley was born on November 3, 1888 in Austria.1900 U.S. Census - Emily Mahorko C ...
, were also among Apfel's successful productions.[
]
Final years
After many years as a director, he gradually returned to acting. On March 21, 1938, Apfel died in Hollywood from a heart attack.
Selected filmography
Actor
* '' The Texan'' (1930) as Thacker
* ''Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
'' (1930) as Secretary of War Stanton
* '' The Spoilers'' (1930) as A. Struve
* ''Liliom
''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''.
P ...
'' (1930) as Stefen Kadar (uncredited)
* ''The Virtuous Sin
''The Virtuous Sin'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by George Cukor and Louis J. Gasnier and starring Walter Huston, Kay Francis, and Kenneth MacKenna. The screenplay by Martin Brown and Louise Long is ...
'' (1930) as Maj. Ivanoff
* ''Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...
'' (1931) as The King
* ''Five Star Final
''Five Star Final'' is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film about the excesses of tabloid journalism directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Edward G. Robinson, Aline MacMahon (in her screen debut) and Boris Karloff. The screenplay was by Rober ...
'' (1931) as Bernard Hinchecliffe
* '' Sidewalks of New York'' (1931) as Judge
* ''The Yellow Ticket
''The Yellow Ticket'' is a 1931 pre-Code American drama film based on the 1914 play of the same name by Michael Morton, produced by the Fox Film Corporation, directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring Elissa Landi, Lionel Barrymore and Laurence ...
'' (1931) as British Embassy Butler (uncredited)
* ''The Woman from Monte Carlo
''The Woman from Monte Carlo'' is an American pre-Code film produced by Warner Bros. subsidiary First National Pictures (with the Vitaphone logo) in 1931 and released on January 9, 1932. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and gave top billing to ...
'' (1932) as Dr. Rabeouf
* ''Speak Easily
''Speak Easily'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd, and directed by Edward Sedgwick. The studio also paired Keaton and Durante as a comedy team during this period in ''The Passionat ...
'' (1932) as Lawyer's Representative (uncredited)
* ''A Successful Calamity
''A Successful Calamity'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring George Arliss, supported by Mary Astor and Evelyn Knapp. Based on the 1917 play ''A Successful Calamity'' by Clare Kummer, the film is ab ...
'' (1932) as President of the United States
* '' Make Me a Star'' (1932) as Henshaw
* ''High Pressure
In science and engineering the study of high pressure examines its effects on materials and the design and construction of devices, such as a diamond anvil cell, which can create high pressure. By ''high pressure'' is usually meant pressures of th ...
'' (1932) as Mr. Hackett
* '' Call Her Savage'' (1932) as Doctor Treating Crosby (uncredited)
* ''Rasputin and the Empress
''Rasputin and the Empress'' is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Richard Boleslawski and written by Charles MacArthur. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the film is set in Imperial Russia and stars the Barrymore siblings (John, a ...
'' (1932) as Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
* ''Employees' Entrance
''Employees' Entrance'' is a 1933 pre-Code film about the devious manager of a New York department store (Warren William) and his romantic involvement with a reluctant new employee (Loretta Young). It was directed by Roy Del Ruth. In 2019, the f ...
'' (1933) as Board of Directors Member #5 (uncredited)
* ''Gabriel Over the White House
''Gabriel Over the White House'' is a 1933 American pre-Code political fantasy film starring Walter Huston as a genial but politically corrupt U.S. President who has a near-fatal automobile accident and comes under divine influence—specifica ...
'' (1933) as German Delegate to Debt Conference (uncredited)
* ''The Story of Temple Drake
''The Story of Temple Drake'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Stephen Roberts and starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue. It tells the story of Temple Drake, a reckless woman in the American South who falls into the hands of ...
'' (1933) as District Attorney (uncredited)
* ''Storm at Daybreak
''Storm at Daybreak'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Richard Boleslawski, written by Bertram Millhauser, and starring Kay Francis, Nils Asther, Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Eugene Pallette and C. Henry Gordon. It was rele ...
'' (1933) as Counselor Velasch (uncredited)
* ''Tugboat Annie
''Tugboat Annie'' is a 1933 American pre-Code film directed by Mervyn LeRoy, written by Norman Reilly Raine and Zelda Sears, and starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery as a comically quarrelsome middle-aged couple who operate a tugboat. Dr ...
'' (1933) as Reynolds (uncredited)
* '' One Man's Journey'' (1933) as John Radford
* ''The Bowery
The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "Bo ...
'' (1933) as Ivan Rummel
* ''The World Changes
''The World Changes'' is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Paul Muni as an ambitious farm boy who becomes rich, but does not handle success well. Aline MacMahon and Mary Astor play his mother and wife r ...
'' (1933) as Mr. Morley
* ''The House of Rothschild
''The House of Rothschild'' is a 1934 American pre-Code historical drama film directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring George Arliss, Loretta Young and Boris Karloff. It was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the play by George Hembert Westley ...
'' (1934) as Prussian Officer
* ''Whirlpool
A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
'' (1934) as Newspaper Editor
* ''Manhattan Melodrama
''Manhattan Melodrama'' is a 1934 American pre-Code crime film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy. The movie also provided one of Mickey Rooney's earliest film roles. (Rooney ...
'' (1934) as Speaker of Assembly (uncredited)
* '' The Old Fashioned Way'' (1934) as Mr. Livingston (uncredited)
* '' Bordertown'' (1935) as Judge Rufus Barnswell (uncredited)
* ''Romance in Manhattan
''Romance in Manhattan'' is a 1935 American comedy/romance film directed by Stephen Roberts, starring Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.
Plot
Karel Novak (Lederer), an incredibly naive Czech immigrant, arr ...
'' (1935) as The Judge
* ''Dante's Inferno
''Inferno'' (; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem ''Divine Comedy''. It is followed by ''Purgatorio'' and '' Paradiso''. The ''Inferno'' describes Dante's journey through Hell, gui ...
'' (1935) as Mr. Williams (uncredited)
* ''Man on the Flying Trapeze
''Man on the Flying Trapeze'' (UK title: ''The Memory Expert'') is a 1935 comedy film starring W. C. Fields as a henpecked husband who experiences a series of misadventures while taking a day off from work to attend a wrestling match. As with his ...
'' (1935) as President Malloy
* ''O'Shaughnessy's Boy
''O'Shaughnessy's Boy'' is a 1935 film starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper and directed by Richard Boleslawski. The picture was partly set in a circus. The cinematographer was James Wong Howe.
Plot summary
The plot involves a one-armed l ...
'' (1935) as Martha's Lawyer
* ''Sutter's Gold
''Sutter's Gold'' is a 1936 American Western film. It is a fictionalized version of the aftermath of the discovery of gold on Sutter's property, spurring the California Gold Rush of 1849. Edward Arnold plays John Sutter. The supporting cast i ...
'' (1936) as Bartender (uncredited)
* ''Hearts in Bondage
''Hearts in Bondage'' is a 1936 American black-and-white war drama film directed by Lew Ayres for Republic Pictures. Set during the American Civil War, the film depicts the Union Navy's deliberate sinking of , the Confederate States Navy's salv ...
'' (1936) as Capt. Gilman
* ''San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
'' (1936) as Founders' Club Member (uncredited)
* '' Crack-Up'' (1936) as Alfred Knuxton
* ''The Toast of New York
''The Toast of New York'' is a 1937 American biopic directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Edward Arnold, Cary Grant, Frances Farmer, and Jack Oakie. The film is a fictionalized account of the lives of financiers James Fisk and Edward S. St ...
'' (1937) as Wallack (uncredited)
* ''Fifty Roads to Town
''Fifty Roads to Town'' is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Don Ameche and Ann Sothern. The film is based on a book of the same name by author Frederick Nebel. This is the third novel Nebel wrote.
Plot
...
'' (1937) as Smorgen
* ''Conquest
Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms.
Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...
'' (1937) as Count Potocka (uncredited)
* ''Angel of Mercy'' (1939, Short) as Red Cross Representative (uncredited)
Director
* ''The Bells'' (1913)
* '' The Squaw Man'' (1914)
* '' The Master Mind'' (1914)
* ''The Man on the Box
''The Man on the Box'' is a 1914 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Oscar Apfel and co-directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It was based on the 1904 novel of the same name by Harold MacGrath and stars Horace B. Carpenter.
Max Figman had ...
'' (1914)
* ''The Battle of Hearts
''The Battle of Hearts'' is a 1916 American silent drama film written and directed by Oscar Apfel, and produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. It starred William Farnum and Elda Furry (later known as Hedda Hopper). The story was by F ...
'' (1916)
* ''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)
* ''The Turn of a Card
''The Turn of a Card'' is a 1918 American silent comedy film directed by Oscar Apfel and starring J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson and Eugene Pallette.Rainey p.230
Cast
* J. Warren Kerrigan as Jimmie Montgomery Farrell
* Lois Wilson as Cynthia ...
'' (1918)
* '' The Rough Neck'' (1919)
* ''Ravished Armenia
''Ravished Armenia'' (full title: ''Ravished Armenia: The Story of Aurora Mardiganian, the Christian Girl, Who Survived the Great Massacres'') is a book written in 1918 by Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian about her experiences in the Armenian gen ...
'' (1919)
* ''Phil for Short
''Phil for Short'' is a 1919 American silent comedy film directed by Oscar Apfel and starring Evelyn Greeley. It was produced and distributed by World Film Company.
Cast
Preservation
A print of ''Phil for Short'' is housed in the Library of Co ...
'' (1919)
* '' Ten Nights in a bar Room'' (1921)
* ''Bulldog Drummond
Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is a fictional character, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name "Sapper". Following McNeile's death in 1937, the novels were continued by Gerard Fairlie. Drummond is a First World War veteran who, ...
'' (1922)
* ''The Sporting Chance
''The Sporting Chance'' is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by Oscar Apfel and starring Lou Tellegen, Dorothy Phillips, and George Fawcett
George Fawcett (August 25, 1860 – June 6, 1939) was an American stage and film act ...
'' (1925)
* '' The Thoroughbred'' (1925)
* '' The Last Alarm'' (1926)
* '' Somebody's Mother'' (1926)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apfel, Oscar
1878 births
1938 deaths
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American male screenwriters
Film directors from Ohio
Male actors from Cleveland
19th-century American male actors
American male stage actors
20th-century American male actors
Screenwriters from Ohio
Film producers from Ohio
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters