Login
Login

Harry C. Myers

{{short description|American actor (1882–1938)}}

{{for|the rugby union and rugby league footballer|Harry Myers (rugby)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Harry C. Myers

| image = Harry C. Myers, film actor (SAYRE 7703).jpg

| caption = Myers in 1924

| birth_date = {{birth date|1882|9|5}}

| birth_place = New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1938|12|25|1882|9|5}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| yearsactive = 1908–1939

| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|film director}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Rosemary Theby|1915}}

| other_names = Henry Myers

}}

Harry C. Myers (September 5, 1882 – December 25, 1938) was an American film actor and director, sometimes credited as Henry Myers. He performed in many short comedy films with his wife Rosemary Theby. Myers appeared in 330 films between 1908 and 1939, and directed more than 50 films between 1913 and 1917.

Biography

He was born in New Haven, Connecticut,{{cite news |title=Harry Myers equally brilliant as actor and as director |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50327452/harry-myers/ |access-date=May 6, 2020 |work=The Morning Post |date=August 4, 1916 |location=New Jersey, Camden |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}} on September 5, 1882. When he was young, Myers moved to Philadelphia, where he received most of his education. He studied drawing and design at the Philadelphia Art School for three years. Turning from art to drama, he acted for two years with the Girard Avenue Stock Company and with other troupes in subsequent years.

Myers had been a theatre actor for 10 years before he went into films as an actor for Siegmund Lubin's Lubin Studios in 1909.[http://www.cruelandunusualcomedy.info/2009/05/may-20-at-4pm-drag-shows.html Steve Massa and Ben Model, Cruel and Unusual Comedy, film notes written by Steve Massa and Ben Model for the film series "Cruel and Unusual Comedy: Social Commentary in the American Slapstick Film" presented at MoMA May 20 to June 1, 2009.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526124917/http://www.cruelandunusualcomedy.info/2009/05/may-20-at-4pm-drag-shows.html |date=May 26, 2010 }} By 1914, he was directing his own comedy shorts featuring him and his wife, Rosemary Theby, for Universal, the Vim Comedy Company, and Pathé studios.

After 1920 he had many starring roles in feature-length films, the most notable of which was as the eccentric alcoholic millionaire in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931).{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=54QeRLRM3jwC&dq=Harry+Myers+actor&pg=PA97|title=The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin|first=Joseph P.|last=Eckhardt|date=April 30, 1997|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press|via=Google Books}} His career declined after the introduction of sound films.

Myers died on December 25, 1938, in Hollywood, California, at age 56,{{cite news |title=Harry Myers, actor of silent film fame |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/102460478 |access-date=December 9, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=December 27, 1938 |page=17|id={{ProQuest|102460478}} }} from pneumonia.{{cite book |last1=Katchmer |first1=George A. |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses |year=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-4693-3 |page=274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkOeCQAAQBAJ&q=%22Harry+C.+Myers%22+actor&pg=PA274 |access-date=December 9, 2020 |language=en}}

Partial filmography

File:Harry C. Myers and Rosemary Theby.jpg

File:The Connecting Bath.jpg

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

{{div col end}}

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • [https://books.google.com/books?id=UEs_AAAAYAAJ&dq=Harry+C.+Myers+actor&pg=PA51 The Moving picture world – Moving Picture Exhibitors' Association – 1914 – Performing Arts – Harry C. Myers. Lubin Actor-Director]
  • [https://books.google.com/books?id=CdEPgRJyVPIC&dq=Harry+C+Myers+actor&pg=PA199 Guide to the silent years of American cinema by Donald W. McCaffrey, Christopher P. Jacobs – Harry Myers]

External links

{{Commons category|Harry C. Myers}}

  • {{IMDb name|0616729}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myers, Harry}}

Category:1882 births

Category:1938 deaths

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male silent film actors

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California

Category:Film directors from Connecticut

Category:Male actors from New Haven, Connecticut