Elmer Clifton, was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, and actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 from the early silent days. A collaborator of D. W. Griffith

D. W. Griffith

David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...

, he appeared in The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation

The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...

(1915) and Intolerance

Intolerance (film)

Intolerance is a 1916 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and is considered one of the great masterpieces of the Silent Era. The three-and-a-half hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines each separated by several centuries: A contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption; a...

(1916) before giving up acting in 1919 to concentrate on work behind the camera. Clifton was the first film-maker to discover the talents of Clara Bow

Clara Bow

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...

, who he successfully cast in Down to the sea in ships

Down to the Sea in Ships

Down to the Sea in Ships is a 1922 American silent film about a 19th century Massachusetts whaling family. Directed by Elmer Clifton, the film stars William Walcott, Marguerite Courtot, and Clara Bow.-Plot:...

, released on March 4, 1923. In the sound era, Clifton wrote and directed many low-budget Westerns, along with anti-marijuana Assassin of Youth

Assassin of Youth

Assassin of Youth is an exploitation film directed by Elmer Clifton. It is a pre-WWII movie about the supposed ill effects of cannabis. The movie is often considered a clone of the much more famous Reefer Madness...

(1937) and Not Wanted (1949), which was finished by Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...

. Clifton became ill during the filming of Not Wanted and died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly after the film's release.

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