Norman Kerry (June 16, 1894 – January 12, 1956) was a
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Born
Arnold Kaiser in
Rochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and...
of German parentage, he changed his decidedly German name to 'Norman Kerry' at the onset of World War I.
Around 1916 he befriended
Rudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, sex symbol, and early pop icon. Known as the "Latin Lover", he was one of the most popular stars of the 1920s, and one of the most recognized stars from the silent film era. He is best known for his work in The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...
, then an exhibition dancer of some renown, in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
.
Norman Kerry (June 16, 1894 – January 12, 1956) was a
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
.
Biography
Born
Arnold Kaiser in
Rochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. The Rochester metropolitan area is the second largest economy in New York State, behind the New York City metropolitan area. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and...
of German parentage, he changed his decidedly German name to 'Norman Kerry' at the onset of World War I.
Around 1916 he befriended
Rudolph ValentinoRudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, sex symbol, and early pop icon. Known as the "Latin Lover", he was one of the most popular stars of the 1920s, and one of the most recognized stars from the silent film era. He is best known for his work in The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...
, then an exhibition dancer of some renown, in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He is said to have introduced Valentino to dancer Bonnie Glass who became Valentino's partner; Valentino in turn encouraged Kerry to try making a name for himself in film. (Later, Kerry would help out Valentino financially when the two met again in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.) Kerry made his first film appearance in the 1916
Allan DwanAllan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...
directed comedy
Manhattan Madness, starring Douglas Fairbanks. He would rise to leading actor status the following year in the
Marshall NeilanMarshall Ambrose Neilan was an American motion picture actor, screenwriter, film director, and producer.-Early life:...
directed
A Little Princess, playing opposite actress
Mary PickfordMary Pickford was a Canadian motion picture actor, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known as "America's Sweetheart," "Little Mary" and "The girl with the curls," she was one of the first Canadian...
. In 1918, Kerry followed his success with
A Little Princess in the
William Desmond TaylorWilliam Desmond Taylor was an actor, successful US film director of silent movies and a popular figure in the growing Hollywood film colony of the 1910s and early 1920s. His murder on February 1, 1922, along with other Hollywood scandals such as the Roscoe Arbuckle trial, led to a frenzy of...
directed
Up the Road with Sallie, opposite
Constance TalmadgeConstance Talmadge was a silent movie star born in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and was the sister of fellow actresse Norma Talmadge and Natalie Talmadge.- Early life :...
.
Kerry's career flourished during the
silent filmA silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially spoken dialogue. The idea of combining motion pictures with recorded sound is nearly as old as film itself, but because of the technical challenges involved, synchronized dialogue was only made practical in the late 1920s with...
era of the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s and he quickly became a matinee idol who was extremely popular with female fans. With his slicked back hair and thin, waxed moustache, he was often cast in the role of the heroic dashing swashbuckler or the exotic, seductive lothario. By 1923, Kerry was a very well respected leading man and box-office draw. That year he starred in two much talked about films: the enormous box-office hit
The Hunchback of Notre DameThe 1923 film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda, and directed by Wallace Worsley, is the most famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, aside from the 1996 Disney Adaptation...
, opposite
Lon ChaneyLon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema. He is best remembered for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted characters, and his...
and
Patsy Ruth MillerPatsy Ruth Miller was an American film actress.After being discovered by the actress Alla Nazimova at a Hollywood party, Patsy Ruth Miller got her first break with a small role in Camille, which starred Rudolph Valentino...
and the controversial
Merry-Go-Round opposite newcomer
Mary PhilbinMary Philbin was a notable film actress of the silent film era. Philbin is probably best remembered for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite screen legend Lon Chaney and Dea in The Man Who Laughs...
. Kerry was cast in
Merry-Go-Round by the famous Austrian director
Erich von StroheimErich von Stroheim was an Austrian-born star of the silent film age, lauded for his directorial work in which he was a proto-auteur. As an actor, he is noted for his arrogant Teutonic character parts which led him to be described as "not a character actor, but what a character!"...
to play von Stroheim's alter-ego 'Count Franz Maximilian Von Hohenegg', but studio executive
Irving ThalbergIrving Grant Thalberg was an Academy Award-winning American film producer during the early years of motion pictures...
fired von Stroheim during filming and had to be replaced by director
Rupert JulianRupert Julian was a cinema actor, director, writer and producer.Born Thomas Percival Hayes in Whangaroa, New Zealand, Rupert Julian performed on stage and in film in his native New Zealand and Australia before emigrating to the United States in 1911, starting his career as an actor in Universal...
. Although controversial at the time, the film is now considered a classic.
Kerry would again be paired with Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in the 1925 horror classic
The Phantom of the Opera, playing Philbin's love-interest, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. The film was an enormous financial and critical success and solidified Kerry's position as a leading actor during the 1920s. That same year Kerry would star opposite Patsy Ruth Miller in the adventure film
Lorraine of the Lions, although the film didn't achieve nearly the degree of success as
The Phantom of the Opera. In 1927 Kerry would again share the screen with Lon Chaney, Sr. in the
Tod BrowningTod Browning was an American motion picture actor, director and screenwriter.Browning's career spanned the silent and talkie eras...
directed horror film
The UnknownThe Unknown is a silent horror film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Lon Chaney as carnival knife thrower Alonzo the Armless and Joan Crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry....
with
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925...
. Kerry was cast as a circus
strongmanThe circus strongman is one of many acts found in a modern circus. The strongman demonstrates great strength, power and agility to the audience. The strongman/strongwomen were very popular attractions in the circus in the 19th century....
, despite his evident lack of a muscular physique. He would spend the decade appearing in high-profile roles opposite such famous actresses of the era as:
Anna Q. NilssonAnna Quirentia Nilsson was a Swedish born American actress who achieved success in American silent movies.-Early life:...
,
Marion DaviesMarion Davies was an American film actress.Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
,
Bebe DanielsBebe Daniels was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, and later gained fame on radio and television in England...
,
Mildred HarrisMildred Harris was an American actress of the silent film era.-Early life:Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Mildred Harris made her first screen appearances at the age of eleven in the Francis Ford and Thomas H...
,
ZaSu PittsZaSu Pitts The earliest date is supported by census records: the 1900 census gives her age as 6, though puzzlingly lists March as her month of birth; the 1910 census gives her age as 15, but by the time of the 1920 census she had begun her film acting career and her age is given as 21...
,
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925...
,
Lillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's...
and
Claire WindsorClaire Windsor was a notable American film actress of the early silent screen era.-Early life:Windsor was born Clara Viola Cronk in 1892 to George Edwin and Rosella R. Fearing Cronk in Marvin, Phillips County, Kansas of Scandinavian heritage. Her parents later moved to Cawker City, Kansas when...
.
At the beginning of the
talkie era he and Mary Philbin reunited to film talking scenes for the 1930 reissue of "Phantom of the Opera". On the surviving soundtrack both stars are stiff and awkward, speaking with exaggerated diction. This was Philbin's only sound film, and the beginning of Kerry's decline. He was cast in the 1931 film
Bachelor Apartment, opposite silent film star
Mae MurrayMae Murray was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen"....
. The film was critically panned at the time of release and both Murray and Kerry's careers in the new medium of sound quickly waned. Kerry would only make three more film appearances before retiring from acting.
Later in life Kerry joined the
French Foreign LegionThe French Foreign Legion is a unique unit in the French Army, established in 1831. The legion was specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, but commanded by French officers. However, it is also open to French citizens, who amount to 24% of recruits...
, returning to the U.S. only when France was invaded by
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
.
Norman Kerry died in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
at the age of 61 in 1956 and was interred at
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver CityHoly Cross Cemetery is a Catholic cemetery at 5835 West Slauson Avenue in Culver City, California, operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese.Opened in 1939, Holy Cross is . It contains—among others—the graves and tombs of show business professionals...
, Los Angeles County, California.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Norman Kerry was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of FameThe Hollywood Walk of Fame is a sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, that serves as an entertainment museum...
at 6724 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California.
Filmography
- Tanks a Million (1941)
- Phantom of Santa Fe aka The Hawk (1931)
- Air Eagles (1931)
- Bachelor Apartment (1931)
- Ex-Flame (1930)
- The Prince of Hearts (1929)
- The Bondman (1929)
- The Woman I Love (1929)
- Trial Marriage (1929)
- Man, Woman and Wife (1929)
- The Woman from Moscow (1928)
- The Foreign Legion (1928)
- The Affairs of Hannerl (1928)
- Love Me and the World Is Mine
Love Me and the World Is Mine is a 1927 romantic film directed by King Baggot.-Plot:Hannerl is a young woman growing up in Old Vienna. She falls in love with two men: A young army officer who can provide her love and security and an old wealthy man who can provide her a high-class life...
(1927)
- The Irresistible Lover (1927)
- Body and Soul
Body and Soul is a 1927 silent film starring Aileen Pringle, Norman Kerry, and Lionel Barrymore. The movie was directed by Reginald Barker.-Cast:*Aileen Pringle as Hilda*Norman Kerry as Ruffo*Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leyden...
(1927)
- The Unknown
The Unknown is a silent horror film directed by Tod Browning and featuring Lon Chaney as carnival knife thrower Alonzo the Armless and Joan Crawford as the scantily clad carnival girl he hopes to marry....
(1927)
- Annie Laurie
Annie Laurie was a 1927 MGM silent film directed by John S. Robertson and starring Lillian Gish and Norman Kerry. This was the third film of Lillian Gish at MGM, and its flop heralded a decline in the star's career...
(1927)
- The Claw (1927)
- The Love Thief (1926)
- The Barrier (1926)
- Mademoiselle Modiste (1926)
- Under Western Skies (1926)
- Lorraine of the Lions (1925)
- The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 silent film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to...
(1925)
- Fifth Avenue Models (1925)
- The Price of Pleasure (1925)
- So This Is Marriage?
So This Is Marriage? is a 1924 drama film directed by Hobart Henley.-Cast:* Conrad Nagel - Peter Marsh* Eleanor Boardman - Beth Marsh* Lew Cody - Daniel Rankin* Clyde Cook - Mr. Brown* Edward Connelly - Nathan* John Boles - Uriah...
(1924)
- Butterfly
A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form. Most species are day-flying so...
(1924)
- Hello, 'Frisco (1924)
- Between Friends
Between Friends is:* Between Friends , a syndicated comic strip by Sandra Bell-Lundy* Between Friends , a 1973 film directed by Donald Shebib*Between Friends , a 2006 album by Tamia...
(1924)
- Cytherea
Cytherea may refer to be:*Another name for the goddess Aphrodite of Greek mythology*A synonym of the orchid genus Calypso*Cytherea , a genus of Bombyliidae*A generic name used for the smooth clam Callista chione, from the Mediterranean...
(1924)
- True As Steel
True As Steel is a 1924 drama film directed and written by Rupert Hughes.-Plot:Eva Boutelle is a businesswoman whose husband Harry is out of town. Meantime, she meets colleague Frank, who is also married. Despite of that, they start an affair.-Cast:...
(1924)
- Daring Youth (1924)
- The Shadow of the East (1924)
- The Satin Girl (1923)
- The Thrill Chaser
The Thrill Chaser is a 1923 action film directed by Edward Sedgwick and featuring Hoot Gibson.-Cast:* Hoot Gibson - Omar K. Jenkins* James Neill - Sheik Ussan* Billie Dove - Olala Ussan* W. E. Lawrence - Prince Ahmed The Thrill Chaser is a 1923 action film directed by Edward Sedgwick and featuring...
(1923)
- The Acquittal (1923)
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The 1923 film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, starring Lon Chaney as Quasimodo and Patsy Ruth Miller as Esmeralda, and directed by Wallace Worsley, is the most famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, aside from the 1996 Disney Adaptation...
(1923)
- Is Money Everything? (1923)
- Merry-Go-Round (1923)
- Brothers Under the Skin
Brothers Under the Skin is a 1922 comedy film directed by E. Mason Hopper.-Cast:* Pat O'Malley - Newton Craddock* Helene Chadwick - Millie Craddock* Mae Busch - Flo Bulger* Norman Kerry - Thomas Kirtland* Claire Windsor - Dorothy Kirtland...
(1922)
- Till We Meet Again
"Till We Meet Again" is a popular song. The music was written by Richard A. Whiting, the lyrics by Raymond B. Egan. Written during the Great War, the song tells of the parting of a soldier and his sweetheart. The title comes from the final line of the chorus:...
(1922)
- The Man from Home
The Man from Home is a 1922 drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice. Alfred Hitchcock is credited as a title designer. The film is now lost.-Cast:* James Kirkwood - Daniel Forbes Pike* Anna Q...
(1922)
- Find the Woman (1922)
- Three Live Ghosts (1922)
- Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford
Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford is a 1916 silent comedy film directed by Fred Niblo. It was Niblo's debut film as a director. -Cast:* Fred Niblo - J.Rufus Wallingford* Henry Carson Clarke - Blackie* Enid Bennett - Fanny* Eddie Lamb* Pirie Bush...
(1921)
- Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Calgary, in Alberta*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta...
(1921)
- The Wild Goose
The Wild Goose: A Collection of Ocean Waifs was a hand-written newspaper created in late 1867 by Fenian prisoners aboard the Hougoumont, the last ship to transport convicts to Australia....
(1921)
- Proxies (1921)
- Buried Treasure (1921)
- A Splendid Hazard (1920)
- Passion's Playground (1920)
- Soldiers of Fortune
Soldiers of Fortune is an album by American southern rock band Outlaws, released in 1986. .-Track listing:#"One Last Ride" – 4:26#"Soldiers of Fortune" – 3:32...
(1919)
- The Dark Star (1919)
- Virtuous Sinners (1919)
- Getting Mary Married (1919)
- Toton the Apache (1919)
- The Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town is a 1918 silent comedy film directed by Allen Holubar and starring Lon Chaney, Sr. -Cast:* Dorothy Phillips - Genevra French* George Fawcett - Major French* Clarissa Selwynne - Aunt Harriet* Zasu Pitts...
(1918)
- Good Night, Paul
Good Night, Paul was a 1918 silent film in five reels directed by Walter Edwards. It was based on a successful stage play with book and lyrics by Roland Oliver and Charles Dickson, and music by Harry B. Olsen. Produced by Lewis J...
(1918)
- Rose o' Paradise (1918)
- Up the Road with Sallie (1918)
- Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley
Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley is a 1918 silent film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on a Belle K. Maniates novel.-Plot:...
(1918)
- The Little Princess (1917)
- The Little American
The Little American is a 1917 drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film stars Mary Pickford as an American woman who is in love with both a German and a French soldier during World War I.-Plot:...
(1917)
- Manhattan Madness (1916)
External links