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Willard Mack (September 18, 1873 – November 18, 1934) was a Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
-born actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
, director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
, and playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
.

Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. After two years, they relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River , north of Iowa City, Iowa and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city....
 where McLaughlin finished high school. His parents returned to Canada but he went on to study at Georgetown University
Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a Society of Jesus private university located in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Father John Carroll founded the school in 1789, though its roots extend back to 1634....
 in Washington, D. C. where he became involved in student plays.






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Willard Mack (September 18, 1873 – November 18, 1934) was a Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
-born actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
, director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
, and playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
.

Born Charles McLaughlin, in Morrisburg, Ontario, at an early age his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. After two years, they relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River , north of Iowa City, Iowa and east of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city....
 where McLaughlin finished high school. His parents returned to Canada but he went on to study at Georgetown University
Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a Society of Jesus private university located in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Father John Carroll founded the school in 1789, though its roots extend back to 1634....
 in Washington, D. C. where he became involved in student plays. Adopting the stage name, Willard Mack, after graduation he took minor acting jobs for a few years and did Shakespearian repertoire. However, writing scripts was what he was most interested in and his second effort about the Northwest Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is the federal police, national police, and paramilitary police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world....
 titled "In Wyoming" proved to be a commercial success. It would later be used as a basis for the screenplay for his film "Nannette of the Wilds." Throughout his life Willard Mack frequently returned to Canada. Some of his other plays, including "Tiger Rose" and "The Scarlet Fox," were set in northern Alberta
Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada Canadian Prairies Provinces and territories of Canada. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S....
.

A prolific writer, in 1914 he made his acting debut on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 in a play he had written. Over the next fourteen years he would write a further twenty-two Broadway productions, acting in ten of them, and producing four. For a time, Willard Mack operated a stock company with actress Maude Leone. In the mid 1920s, he met an aspiring stage actress named Ruby Stevens hired as a chorus girl for his new play. Mack coached Stevens's acting and rewrote parts of the play to expand her role then convinced her to change her name to Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck was an United States actor, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B....
.

During his time on Broadway, Willard Mack began writing for motion pictures and although he performed in fifteen films and directed four, he was primarily a writer. At first he remained on the East Coast
East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada....
 but later moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
. A number of his plays were made into motion pictures and between 1916 and 1953 he was involved with the writing of more than seventy film scripts.

Starting out in silent film
Silent film

A 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 possible in the late 1920s with the introduction of the Vitaphone system....
, he made his talkie debut as actor, director and co-writer of the 1929 film "Voice of the City." In 1933 he directed the acclaimed drama film, "What Price Innocence?" then wrote and directed "Broadway To Hollywood
Broadway to Hollywood

Broadway to Hollywood was an early American television program broadcast on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network. The popular series began on July 4, 1949 and became one of the longest-running series on DuMont....
," a backstage musical spanning nearly five decades that recounts the struggles of a vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 family.

In 1913, Willard Mack married actress Marjorie Rambeau
Marjorie Rambeau

Marjorie Rambeau was an Academy Awards-nominated United States film and stage actress....
. divorced in 1917, he immediately married actress/dancer Pauline Frederick
Pauline Frederick

Pauline Frederick was an actor best known for her Hollywood films....
 whom he had met a year earlier while appearing in a film together. Their marriage was short lived and they divorced in 1919.

Willard Mack's writing success made him a wealthy man. He died in Brentwood Heights, California
Brentwood, California

Brentwood is a city in Contra Costa County, California, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area....
 in 1934.

Plays

  • The Noose
    The Noose (play)

    The Noose is a play written by Willard Mack. It was later adapted as the film The Noose .The play opened on Broadway theatre the night of October 20, 1926 at the Hudson Theatre....
    , 1926


External links