Rodman Law (January 21, 1885 – October 14, 1919) born Frederick Rodman Law was a career parachutist, building climber and later silent movie stuntman and actor.
Biography
He was the older brother of pioneering aviatrix
Ruth Law Oliver
Ruth Law Oliver (May 21, 1887 - December 1, 1970) was a pioneer American aviator during the 1910s.
Biography
She was born Ruth Bancroft Law on May 21, 1887 to Sarah Bancroft Breed and Frederick Henry Law in Lynn, Massachusetts.
She was inspire ...
.
[ ] Law married Florence Kimball and was the father of three children. The family made their home in Brooklyn.
[ ][ ] Law lived in Chicago and Texas.
On February 2, 1912 Law parachuted off the top of the candle of the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...
. Law starred in or participated in several silent movies including a 1914 film built around his exploits ''
Daredevil Rodman Law''. His female co-stars in his movies were
Claire Whitney
Claire Whitney (May 6, 1890 – August 27, 1969) was an American stage and film actress who appeared in 111 films between 1912 and 1949. Only 21 of these films survive, as most have been lost.
Whitney gained early acting experience with a ...
,
Jean Acker
Jean Acker (born Harriet Ackers; October 23, 1892 – August 16, 1978) was an American actress with a career dating from the silent film era through the 1950s. She was perhaps best known as the estranged wife of silent film star Rudolph Valenti ...
, Ethel Wright, Rosanna Forbes, Beryl Bouton and Constance Bennett,
"...Miss Constance Bennett, the 19-year old steeplejack of new York City, climbed the 85-foot pole atop the Equitable Trust Building..."
''www.worthpoint.com'', accessed November 16, 2020 unrelated to the 1930s film actress of the same name.
Law was seriously injured while performing a stunt in 1914; by 1917, the injury was troubling enough that he entered Kings Hospital in Brooklyn for treatment. During the long hospitalization, the money Law had made through his work in films went to pay hospital bills and to support his family.[ Law had almost given up stunt work, but when the US entered World War I, Law enlisted in the Army Aviation Corps. He was assigned to ]Kelly Field
Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting.
In ...
in Texas, where he returned to performing parachute jumping.[
Law contracted ]tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
while at Kelly Field. He died of the disease at Camp Sevier in Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...
on October 14, 1919, after being hospitalized there for a few months.[ Law was believed to be improving; at the time of his death he was planning to perform another parachute jumping stunt.][
]
Filmography
*''A Leap for Love ''A Leap for Love'' is a 1912 American short romantic drama film released on 13 April 1912 by Independent Motion Picture Company.
Cast
* Ethel Wright as Marguerite Leonard
*Frank Hall Crane as Samuel Kingston
*Rodman Law as Alfred Lane
*Hayward Ma ...
'' (1912)
*''The Secret Service Man'' (1912)
*''At the Risk of His Life'' (1912)
*''Saved by Airship'' (1913)
*''Death's Short Cut'' (1913)
*''His Priceless Treasure'' (1913)
*''The Daredevil Mountaineer'' (1913)
*'' Fighting Death'' (1914)
See also
*Stunt performer
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...
References
External links
*
A poster for ''Fighting Death'', one of Law's moviesportraitLaw and a lady friend THE DAMP SPOT THAT HOAXED D.C.
(Law falsely claimed to be climbing the Washington Monument for a base jump)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Rodman
1885 births
1919 deaths
Male actors from Massachusetts
American stunt performers
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
20th-century American male actors
Tuberculosis deaths in South Carolina