Richard Talmadge

{{Infobox person

| name = Richard Talmadge

| image = Richard Talmadge in The Live Wire.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Talmadge in The Live Wire (1935)

| birth_name = Sylvester Alphonse Metz

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1892|12|03}}

| birth_place = Munich, German Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1981|01|25|1892|12|03}}

| death_place = Carmel, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Inglewood Park Cemetery

| other_names = {{hlist|Sylvester Metzetti|Ricardo Metzetti|Sylvester Ricardo Metzetti|Richard Metzetti Talmadge}}

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

| years_active = 1910–1967

| spouse = Madeleine Francis Allen
({{abbr|m.|married}} 1917; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 19??)
{{marriage|Suzanne Avery|1961}}

| children = 1 (stepdaughter)

}}

Richard Talmadge (born Sylvester Alphonse Metz; 3 December 1892 – 25 January 1981) also known as Sylvester Metzetti,"The obituary of Richard Talmadge states he was born Sylvester Metzetti in Switzerland in 1892. Other sources state, Ricardo Mazetti was born in Munich, Germany, in 1896, of Italian-Swiss parents. Twenty Years of Silents gives the year of birth as 1898. The Milwaukee Journal of October 1941 stated he was 47 at the time, which would take his birth back to 1894. Since he was 88 when he died on January 25, 1981, the 1892 date is {{sic|doubtlessly}} the correct date."{{Cite book|author=George A. Katchmer|title=Eighty Silent Film Stars: Biographies and Filmographies of the Obscure to the Well Known|date=1991|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-89950-494-0|page=918}} Ricardo Metzetti,Cinemateca - Issue 27 - Page 7 or Sylvester Ricardo Metzetti,{{Cite book|title=Filmarama: The flaming years, 1920-1929|date=1 September 2002|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1008-2|page=514}} was a German-born American actor, stuntman and film director.{{cite book|author=Gene Scott Freese|title=Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910sÐ1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLpqAwAAQBAJ&q=Sylvester+Metzetti&pg=RA2-PA1991|year=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn= 978-1-476-61470-0|page=1993}}{{cite book|author=Allan R. Ellenberger|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=Talmadge%2C+Richard+actor&pg=PA181|year=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-40983-9|page=181}}

Early life

Born in Germany in 1892, Talmadge arrived in Hollywood in 1910 and began his career as a stuntman (including a stint with Douglas Fairbanks) before becoming an actor himself. He began starring in silent action pictures in 1921, and began producing his own vehicles in 1923. His last silent feature, The Poor Millionaire (1930), was the very last silent production filmed in Hollywood (except for two Charlie Chaplin silent features that were released well after the advent of sound).

Career

File:Alberta Vaughn and Richard Talmadge share a cigar in The Live Wire (1935).jpg and Talmadge share a cigar in The Live Wire, 1935]]

Richard Talmadge spoke fluent English, but with a German accent that became obvious when talkies arrived. Still acting as his own producer, he began starring in lower-budgeted features. His accent didn't matter much in these pictures, which had Talmadge in almost constant motion, doing spectacular stunts throughout the films. During the Depression he gave up his production company and signed with a major studio, Universal Pictures, where he starred in the 12-chapter serial Pirate Treasure (1934). Independent producers Bernard B. Ray and Harry S. Webb then signed Talmadge for a series of action features, with titles emphasizing Talmadge's breakneck speed: Never Too Late, Step on It, The Live Wire, etc. These were his last starring efforts.

Talmadge then began working behind the cameras as assistant director, stunt coordinator, and director.{{cite book|author=Harold N. Pomainville|title=Henry Hathaway: The Lives of a Hollywood Director|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kWA0DAAAQBAJ&q=Talmadge+Metzetti&pg=PA67|year=2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-442-26978-1|page=67}} His later work included How the West Was Won, The Greatest Story Ever Told and Casino Royale.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/188616%7C130443/Dick-Talmadge/ Richard Talmadge] at the Turner Classic Movies

Personal life

He was the stepfather of American polo pioneer and Polo's Grande Dame [http://www.sshale.com Sue Sally Hale]. His brothers, Otto and Victor Metzetti, both had success as stunt performers, and were members of the vaudeville troupe the Flying Metzettis,{{cite book|author=Gene Scott Freese|title=Hollywood Stunt Performers, 1910s-1970s: A Biographical Dictionary, 2d ed.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10dXAwAAQBAJ&q=Talmadge+Metzetti&pg=PA191|year=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-47643-5|page=191}} (or the Five Metzettis{{cite web |url=http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=VVN19201105.2.20&srpos=1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-sylvester+metzetti------# |title = Vaudeville News 5 November 1920 — Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections}}) who were the first to perform the quadruple back somersaultGuinness Book of Records {{full|date=July 2024}} in 1917, at Barnum and Bailey's, with Richard as voltiguer.{{cite web |url=http://cirque-cnac.bnf.fr/fr/acrobatie/propulsion/la-bascule |title = La bascule {{!}} BnF / CNAC}} The family was close, with brothers Otto, Victor, and Leon working on the Richard Talmadge productions of the 1930s.

Death

Talmadge died of cancer at the age of 88 on 25 January 1981, in Carmel, California. He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, his grave marked with the name "Richard Metzetti Talmadge".