Hobart Bosworth
Encyclopedia
Hobart Bosworth was an American
film actor, director
, writer, and producer
.
on his father's side and of New York
's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New World
, on his mother's side. Bosworth was always proud of his lineage.
After his mother died, his father remarried and young Hobart took a dislike to his stepmother. Convinced he was "ill used and cruelly treated", in 1914, he told an interviewer he ran away to New York City
. There he signed on as a cabin boy
aboard the Sovereign of the Seas
, a clipper ship, and was soon out to sea.
After his first voyage, a five-month trip that took him from New York to San Francisco, Hobart spent his wages on candy. (Sleeping it off on a bench in the park in back of Trinity Church, the young boy didn't know when dozing off that the organ music was being played by his own uncle, a Captain Roberts, who found stevedore work for young Hobart, told him of his uncle's presence in San Francisco.) He continued as a sailor as the sea was in his family's blood, eventually spending three years at sea.
He once told an interviewer, "All my people were of the sea and my father was a naval officer". He spent eleven months on an old fashioned whaler
plying the Arctic
. Back in San Francisco, he found work at odd jobs. When not otherwise occupied becoming a semi-professional boxer
and wrestler, Bosworth tried ranching in Southern California
and Mexico
, where he learned to become an expert horseman. Finally, his interest in the arts led him to the stage.
in San Francisco. Earning some money, he undertook the study of painting. Eventually, he was pressed into duty as an actor in a small part with three lines. Though he botched the lines, he was given other small roles. Bosworth was eighteen years old, and on the cusp of a life in the theater.
Hobart signed on with Louis Morrison to be part of a road company for a season as both an actor and as Morrison's dresser, playing Shakespeare's Cymbeline
and Measure for Measure
. During his time with the company, Hobart and another writer wrote a version of Faust
that Morrison used for twenty years in repertory. By 1887, he was acting at the Alcazar Theatre
in San Francisco. He became proficient enough on stage to give Shakespearean canon by the time he was twenty-one years old, though he admitted that he was the worst Macbeth
ever.
Bosworth eventually wound up in Park City, Utah
, where he worked in a mine, pushing an ore wagon in order to raise money. He escaped the pits to tour with the magician Hermann the Great as the conjurer's assistant for a tour through Mexico.
For the first time in eleven years, the 21-year-old Bosworth met his father. Hobart recalled, "He looked at me and said, "Hum! I couldn't lick you now, son." They never met again.
He arrived back in New York in December 1888, and was hired by Augustine Daly to play "Charles the Wrestler" in As You Like It
. He did so well in the role, Daly kept him on. Bosworth remained with Daly's company for ten years, in which he played mostly minor parts. Seven times while he was with the company they made foreign tours, playing in Berlin
, Cologne
, London
, Paris
and other European cities. Playing exclusively small parts eroded his confidence, and Bosworth left Daly to sign on with Julia Marlowe
, who cast him in leads in Shakespearean plays.
Just as Bosworth began to taste stage stardom in New York, he was stricken with tuberculosis
. Bosworth was forced to give up the stage, and he was not allowed to exert himself indoors. Though he made a rapid recovery, he returned to the stage too quickly and suffered a relapse
. For the rest of his working life, he balanced his acting periods of rest so as to keep his tuberculosis in remission.
Bosworth re-established himself as a lead actor on the New York stage, appearing in the 1903 Broadway
revival of Henrik Ibsen
's Hedda Gabler
. He also appeared that year on the Great White Way as the lead in Marta of the Lowlands. This role propelled him to Broadway stardom. However, he was forced again to give up the stage when he lost seventy pounds in ten weeks due to his illness.
Bosworth moved to Tempe, Arizona
to partake of the climate to improve his health. Eventually, he got the disease under control again. While not severely handicapped, he was forced to remain in a warm climate lest he suffer a relapse. The disease robbed him of his voice as well, but there was a new medium for actors: silent films.
Bosworth moved to San Diego, and in 1908, he was contracted to make a motion picture by the Selig Polyscope Company
. Shooting was to be done in the outdoors, and he did not have to use his voice, which was in poor condition. Bosworth once said, "I believe, after all, that it is the motion pictures that have saved my life. How could I have lived on and on, without being able to carry out any of my cherished ambitions? What would my life have meant? Here, in pictures, I am realizing my biggest hopes." Signing with the Selig Polyscope Co., Hobart eventually convinced the movie company to move to Los Angeles. Bosworth is widely credited with being the star of the first movie made on the West Coast.
Due to his role in pioneering the film industry in California, Bosworth often was referred to as the "Dean of Hollywood". He wrote the scenarios for the second and third pictures he acted in, and directed the third. According to his own count, he eventually wrote 112 scenarios and produced eighty-four pictures with Selig. Bosworth was attracted to Jack London
's work due to his out-of-doors filming experience and the requirements of his health, which precluded acting in studios.
In 1913, he started his own company, Hobart Bosworth Productions Company, to produce a series of Jack London melodrama
s. He produced and directed the company's first picture, playing Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf. London himself appeared as a sailor. The movie was released in the U.S. by The W.W. Hodkinson Corp. and States Right Independent Exchanges.
D.W. Griffith also released a Jack London picture that year, Two Men of the Desert
, but Hobart followed up The Sea Wolf with The Chechako. The Chechako and some other Bosworth-London pictures were distributed through Paramount Pictures
.
Bosworth directed the follow-up, The Valley of the Moon
, in which he also had a supporting role as an actor. He also appeared as an actor in John Barleycorn
, which he co-directed with J. Charles Haydon
. He produced, directed, wrote, and acted in Martin Eden and An Odyssey of the North, playing the lead in the latter, which was released by Paramount. He finished up the series by producing, directing, and playing the lead in the two-part "Burning Daylight" series, The Adventures of Burning Daylight. Both were released by Paramount.
Soon Bosworth joined the Oliver Photography Company. Subsequently, Bosworth Inc. and Oliver Morosco Productions
released a total of thirty-one pictures, most which starred Bosworth. The company ceased operations after producing The Sea Lion.
The merger with Paramount ended the period in Bosworth's creative life where he was a major force in the motion picture industry, which was undergoing changes as the industry matured and solidified. He directed one other picture before the merger, The White Scar, which he also wrote and starred in for the Universal Film Manufacturing Company
. After his own production company closed, Hobart wound up playing supporting roles as an actor.
He divorced his first wife, Adele Farrington
, in 1919.
Bosworth survived motion pictures transition to sound, or "talkies". Aside from appearing in Warner Brothers' showcase, The Show of Shows (1929), his talking debut proper was in the film short A Man in Peace, for Vitaphone
, while his first sound feature was Vitaphone's Ruritana drama General Crack
, starring John Barrymore
. Although he appeared in small roles in A-list
films, Bosworth primarily made his living as a prominently billed character actor in B-Westerns and serials churned out by Poverty Row
studios. In all his roles in A and B pictures, he usually was typecast in a fatherly role, as a clergyman, judge, grandparent, etc.
in Glendale, California
, aged 76. He was survived by his second wife, Cecile and his son George. He was entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park
with a private mausoleum.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film actor, 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:...
, writer, and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Early life
Born Hobart Van Zandt Bosworth, he was a direct descendant of Miles Standish and John and Priscilla AldenPriscilla Alden
Priscilla Alden , , noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, was the wife of fellow colonist John Alden . They married in 1623 in Plymouth.-Biography:...
on his father's side and of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers to land in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, on his mother's side. Bosworth was always proud of his lineage.
After his mother died, his father remarried and young Hobart took a dislike to his stepmother. Convinced he was "ill used and cruelly treated", in 1914, he told an interviewer he ran away to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. There he signed on as a cabin boy
Cabin boy
A Cabin boy or ship's boy is a boy who waits on the officers and passengers of a ship, especially running errands for the captain....
aboard the Sovereign of the Seas
Sovereign of the Seas (clipper)
The Sovereign of the Seas, a clipper ship built in 1852, was a sailing vessel notable for setting the 1854 world record for fastest sailing ship-- 22 knots.Sovereign of the Seas has held this record for over 100 years.-Notable passages:...
, a clipper ship, and was soon out to sea.
After his first voyage, a five-month trip that took him from New York to San Francisco, Hobart spent his wages on candy. (Sleeping it off on a bench in the park in back of Trinity Church, the young boy didn't know when dozing off that the organ music was being played by his own uncle, a Captain Roberts, who found stevedore work for young Hobart, told him of his uncle's presence in San Francisco.) He continued as a sailor as the sea was in his family's blood, eventually spending three years at sea.
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
plying the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
. Back in San Francisco, he found work at odd jobs. When not otherwise occupied becoming a semi-professional boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and wrestler, Bosworth tried ranching in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, where he learned to become an expert horseman. Finally, his interest in the arts led him to the stage.
Career
Thinking he would like to become a landscape painter, a friend suggested that he work as a stage manager to raise the money to study art. Acting on his friend's advice, Bosworth obtained a job with McKnee Rankin as a stage manager at the California TheatreCalifornia Theatre (San Francisco)
The California Theatre , was located at 414 Bush Street, San Francisco. It was built in 1869 by William Ralston, at that time the treasurer of the Bank of California. S. C. Bugbee & Son were the architects and the theatre cost $250, 000 to build.Anpther source puts the figure at $150,000...
in San Francisco. Earning some money, he undertook the study of painting. Eventually, he was pressed into duty as an actor in a small part with three lines. Though he botched the lines, he was given other small roles. Bosworth was eighteen years old, and on the cusp of a life in the theater.
Hobart signed on with Louis Morrison to be part of a road company for a season as both an actor and as Morrison's dresser, playing Shakespeare's Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
and Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
. During his time with the company, Hobart and another writer wrote a version of Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
that Morrison used for twenty years in repertory. By 1887, he was acting at the Alcazar Theatre
Alcazar Theatre (1885-1906)
The Alcazar Theatre was a theatre at 116 O'Farrell Street, between Stockton and Powell, in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1885, the structure served as a lecture and music hall, but soon housed a popular resident stock company, which included Maude Adams, under the management of the younger...
in San Francisco. He became proficient enough on stage to give Shakespearean canon by the time he was twenty-one years old, though he admitted that he was the worst Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
ever.
Bosworth eventually wound up in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
, where he worked in a mine, pushing an ore wagon in order to raise money. He escaped the pits to tour with the magician Hermann the Great as the conjurer's assistant for a tour through Mexico.
For the first time in eleven years, the 21-year-old Bosworth met his father. Hobart recalled, "He looked at me and said, "Hum! I couldn't lick you now, son." They never met again.
He arrived back in New York in December 1888, and was hired by Augustine Daly to play "Charles the Wrestler" in As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
. He did so well in the role, Daly kept him on. Bosworth remained with Daly's company for ten years, in which he played mostly minor parts. Seven times while he was with the company they made foreign tours, playing in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and other European cities. Playing exclusively small parts eroded his confidence, and Bosworth left Daly to sign on with Julia Marlowe
Julia Marlowe
Julia Marlowe was an English-born American actress known for her interpretations of William Shakespeare.-Life and career:...
, who cast him in leads in Shakespearean plays.
Just as Bosworth began to taste stage stardom in New York, he was stricken with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Bosworth was forced to give up the stage, and he was not allowed to exert himself indoors. Though he made a rapid recovery, he returned to the stage too quickly and suffered a relapse
Relapse
Relapse, in relation to drug misuse, is resuming the use of a drug or a dependent substance after one or more periods of abstinence. The term is a landmark feature of both substance dependence and substance abuse, which are learned behaviors, and is maintained by neuronal adaptations that mediate...
. For the rest of his working life, he balanced his acting periods of rest so as to keep his tuberculosis in remission.
Bosworth re-established himself as a lead actor on the New York stage, appearing in the 1903 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
. He also appeared that year on the Great White Way as the lead in Marta of the Lowlands. This role propelled him to Broadway stardom. However, he was forced again to give up the stage when he lost seventy pounds in ten weeks due to his illness.
Bosworth moved to Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
to partake of the climate to improve his health. Eventually, he got the disease under control again. While not severely handicapped, he was forced to remain in a warm climate lest he suffer a relapse. The disease robbed him of his voice as well, but there was a new medium for actors: silent films.
Bosworth moved to San Diego, and in 1908, he was contracted to make a motion picture by the Selig Polyscope Company
Selig Polyscope Company
The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern California's first permanent movie studio, in the historic Edendale district of Los Angeles...
. Shooting was to be done in the outdoors, and he did not have to use his voice, which was in poor condition. Bosworth once said, "I believe, after all, that it is the motion pictures that have saved my life. How could I have lived on and on, without being able to carry out any of my cherished ambitions? What would my life have meant? Here, in pictures, I am realizing my biggest hopes." Signing with the Selig Polyscope Co., Hobart eventually convinced the movie company to move to Los Angeles. Bosworth is widely credited with being the star of the first movie made on the West Coast.
Due to his role in pioneering the film industry in California, Bosworth often was referred to as the "Dean of Hollywood". He wrote the scenarios for the second and third pictures he acted in, and directed the third. According to his own count, he eventually wrote 112 scenarios and produced eighty-four pictures with Selig. Bosworth was attracted to Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
's work due to his out-of-doors filming experience and the requirements of his health, which precluded acting in studios.
In 1913, he started his own company, Hobart Bosworth Productions Company, to produce a series of Jack London melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s. He produced and directed the company's first picture, playing Wolf Larsen in The Sea Wolf. London himself appeared as a sailor. The movie was released in the U.S. by The W.W. Hodkinson Corp. and States Right Independent Exchanges.
D.W. Griffith also released a Jack London picture that year, Two Men of the Desert
Two Men of the Desert
-Cast:* Blanche Sweet - The Authoress* Henry B. Walthall - First Partner* Walter Miller - Second Partner* Alfred Paget - An Indian* Jennie Lee - Old Indian Woman* Harry Carey* Donald Crisp* Charles Hill Mailes* Mae Marsh* Marshall Neilan...
, but Hobart followed up The Sea Wolf with The Chechako. The Chechako and some other Bosworth-London pictures were distributed through Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
Bosworth directed the follow-up, The Valley of the Moon
The Valley of the Moon
The Valley of the Moon is a novel by American writer Jack London...
, in which he also had a supporting role as an actor. He also appeared as an actor in John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn
"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...
, which he co-directed with J. Charles Haydon
J. Charles Haydon
J. Charles Haydon was an American film director, actor and screenwriter of the silent era. He directed twelve films between 1914 and 1920. He also appeared in five films between 1912 and 1914...
. He produced, directed, wrote, and acted in Martin Eden and An Odyssey of the North, playing the lead in the latter, which was released by Paramount. He finished up the series by producing, directing, and playing the lead in the two-part "Burning Daylight" series, The Adventures of Burning Daylight. Both were released by Paramount.
Soon Bosworth joined the Oliver Photography Company. Subsequently, Bosworth Inc. and Oliver Morosco Productions
Oliver Morosco
Oliver Morosco was an American theatrical producer, director, writerand theater owner.-Biography:Born Oliver Mitchell in Logan, Utah, Morosco was raised in San Francisco, California...
released a total of thirty-one pictures, most which starred Bosworth. The company ceased operations after producing The Sea Lion.
The merger with Paramount ended the period in Bosworth's creative life where he was a major force in the motion picture industry, which was undergoing changes as the industry matured and solidified. He directed one other picture before the merger, The White Scar, which he also wrote and starred in for the Universal Film Manufacturing Company
Universal Film Manufacturing Company
The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was a corporate precursor to Universal Pictures, and what is now known as Universal Studios.Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated April 30, 1912 in New York...
. After his own production company closed, Hobart wound up playing supporting roles as an actor.
He divorced his first wife, Adele Farrington
Adele Farrington
Adele Farrington was an American actor of the silent era. She appeared in 74 films during her career between 1914 and 1926. She was a relatively old actress for the silent film era, being 47 at the beginning of her film career. She appeared in many films directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley...
, in 1919.
Bosworth survived motion pictures transition to sound, or "talkies". Aside from appearing in Warner Brothers' showcase, The Show of Shows (1929), his talking debut proper was in the film short A Man in Peace, for Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
, while his first sound feature was Vitaphone's Ruritana drama General Crack
General Crack
General Crack is an all-talking historical costume drama film with Technicolor sequences which was produced by Warner Bros. in 1929 and released early in 1930...
, starring John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
. Although he appeared in small roles in A-list
A-list
A-list is a term that alludes to major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry.The A-list is part of a larger guide called The Hot List that has become an industry-standard guide in Hollywood...
films, Bosworth primarily made his living as a prominently billed character actor in B-Westerns and serials churned out by Poverty Row
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie studios...
studios. In all his roles in A and B pictures, he usually was typecast in a fatherly role, as a clergyman, judge, grandparent, etc.
Death
Hobart Bosworth died of pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
, aged 76. He was survived by his second wife, Cecile and his son George. He was entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
with a private mausoleum.
Partial filmography
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1908 film)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1908 Selig Polyscope Company silent horror motion picture starring Hobart Bosworth and Betty Harte.Directed by Otis Turner and produced by William N. Selig, the screenplay was adapted by George F...
(1908) - The Wonderful Wizard of OzThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 film)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1910 silent fantasy film and the earliest surviving film version of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, made by the Selig Polyscope Company without Baum's direct input. It was created to fulfill a contractual obligation associated with Baum's personal bankruptcy caused by...
(1910) - Brown of HarvardBrown of Harvard (1911 film)Brown of Harvard is a 1911 silent film based on the play of the same name by Rida Johnson Young.-Cast:*Edgar G. Wynn as Tom Brown of Harvard*Charles Clary as Gerald Thorne, a Tutor*George L. Cox as Wilfred Kenyon, a Black Sheep...
(1911) (uncredited) - Alas! Poor Yorick!Alas! Poor Yorick!Alas! Poor Yorick! is a 1913 short comedy film featuring Fatty Arbuckle. The film's title is taken from the Shakespeare play Hamlet.-Cast:* Wheeler Oakman* Tom Santschi - * Lillian Hayward* Hobart Bosworth* John Lancaster...
(1913 short) - Buckshot JohnBuckshot JohnBuckshot John is a 1915 Western film, directed by and starring Hobart Bosworth. Prints of the film survive in the Library of Congress film archive.-Cast:* Hobart Bosworth - 'Buckshot John' Moran* Courtenay Foote - Dr...
(1915) (also directed) - Joan the WomanJoan the WomanJoan the Woman is a 1916 silent drama film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Geraldine Farrar as Joan of Arc.It was the first film to use the Handschiegl Color Process for certain scenes...
(1916) - The Little AmericanThe Little AmericanThe Little American is a 1917 American silent 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) (uncredited) - The Devil-StoneThe Devil-StoneThe Devil-Stone is a 1917 romance film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. The film had sequences filmed in the Handschiegl Color Process ....
(1917) - His Own Law (1920) (Extant; Library of Congress)
- Blind HeartsBlind HeartsBlind Hearts is a 1921 silent film drama produced by Hobart Bosworth who stars along with Madge Bellamy and Raymond McKee. This film was made prior to Bosworth's next film The Sea Lion, a film now in Public Domain and out on DVD. Blind Hearts survives in a copy in the Library of Congress...
(1921) - The Sea LionThe Sea LionThe Sea Lion is a 1921 American silent film adventure directed by Rowland V. Lee. The same staff on this film produced Rowland Lee's previous directed film Blind Hearts, released just before The Sea Lion...
(1921) - Vanity FairVanity Fair (1923 film)Vanity Fair is a silent feature film directed by Hugo Ballin and released by Samuel Goldwyn.-Production background:The film included one sequence filmed in color by Prizmacolor. This silent film was a version of the novel Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray...
(1923) - Captain JanuaryCaptain January (1924 film)Captain January is a 1924 silent film featuring child star Baby Peggy. It was the first screen adaptation of the 1891 children's book Captain January by Laura E. Richards.- Synopsis :...
(1924) - Hearts of OakHearts of Oak (film)Hearts of Oak is a 1924 drama film directed by John Ford. The film is considered to be lost.-Cast:* Hobart Bosworth - Terry Dunnivan* Pauline Starke - Chrystal* Theodore von Eltz - Ned Fairweather* James Gordon - John Owen...
(1924) - Zander the GreatZander the GreatZander the Great is a 1925 silent drama film directed by George W. Hill, in his first directing role for MGM. The film stars Marion Davies. The screenplay by Frances Marion is based upon Edward Salisbury Field 1923 play.-Plot:...
(1925) - The Half-Way GirlThe Half-Way GirlThe Half-Way Girl was a silent picture filmed around the Jersey Shore in 1925.-Plot:Doris Kenyon plays Poppy La Rue, an actress who winds up stranded in Singapore when her theatrical troupe goes bust...
(1925) - The Big ParadeThe Big ParadeThe Big Parade is a 1925 silent film. It tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.The film was...
(1925) - The Blood ShipThe Blood ShipThe Blood Ship is a 1927 silent drama film directed by George B. Seitz. The seventh and final reel of the film is missing.-Cast:* Hobart Bosworth as Jim Newman* Jacqueline Logan as Mary Swope Newman* Richard Arlen as John Shreve...
(1927) - Annie Laurie (1927)
- The Chinese ParrotThe Chinese Parrot (film)The Chinese Parrot is a silent film, the second in the Charlie Chan series and was directed by Paul Leni. The film is an adaptation of the 1926 Earl Derr Biggers novel of the same name. It is a lost film....
(1927) - My Best Girl (1927)
- After the StormAfter the Storm (1928 film)-Cast:* Hobart Bosworth as Manin Dane* Eugenia Gilbert as Joan Wells / Mary Brian* Charles Delaney as Joe Dane* Maude George as Molly O'Doon* George Kuwa as A. Hop* Linda Loredo as Malay Dancer...
(1928) - Hangman's HouseHangman's HouseHangman's House is a 1928 romantic drama genre silent film set in Co. Wicklow, Ireland, directed by John Ford with intertitles written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan. It is based on a novel by Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne. It was adapted by Philip Klein with scenarios by Marion Orth...
(1928) - A Woman of AffairsA Woman of AffairsA Woman of Affairs is a 1928 drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Lewis Stone...
(1928) - The Show of ShowsThe Show of Shows (film)The Show of Shows is a lavish all talking Vitaphone musical revue film which cost $850,000 to make. The Show of Shows was Warner Bros. fifth color movie, the first four were The Desert Song , On With the Show , Gold Diggers of Broadway and Paris . This movie featured most of the contemporary...
(1929) - The Devil's HolidayThe Devil's HolidayThe Devil's Holiday is a film which tells the story of a golddigger who marries a young man for his money, but finds that she really loves him and wants to keep him despite his family's disapproval...
(1930) - The Office WifeThe Office WifeThe Office Wife is a 1930 American Pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon, released by Warner Bros., and based on the novel of the same name by Faith Baldwin. It was the talkie debut for Joan Blondell who would become one of the major Warner Bros...
(1930) - Just ImagineJust ImagineJust Imagine is a 1930 science-fiction musical comedy directed by David Butler, to console audiences distressed by the Great Depression. The film is probably best known for its art direction and special effects in its portrayal of New York City in an imagined 1980...
(1930) - DirigibleDirigible (film)Dirigible is Frank Capra's 1931 adventure film about the competition between American naval fixed-wing and airship pilots to reach the South Pole by air....
(1931) - This Modern AgeThis Modern AgeThis Modern Age is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film directed by Nick Grinde starring Joan Crawford, Neil Hamilton, Pauline Frederick and Albert Conti...
(1931) - Fanny Foley HerselfFanny Foley HerselfFanny Foley Herself is an American comedy-drama film that was shot entirely in Technicolor. The film was the second feature to be filmed using a new Technicolor process which removed grain and resulted in a much improved color...
(1931) - The Miracle ManThe Miracle Man (1932 film)The Miracle Man is a 1932 drama film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, starring Sylvia Sidney and featuring Boris Karloff. It is a remake of the 1919 film of the same name. The film was originally supposed to star Tyrone Power Sr, as the Preacher/Patriarch, but he died before major filming got underway...
(1932) - The Last of the MohicansThe Last of the Mohicans (serial)The Last of the Mohicans is a 1932 Mascot movie serial based on the novel The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.-Cast:*Harry Carey as Natty Bumppo/Hawkeye*Hobart Bosworth as Chingachgook, 'the Sagamore'*Frank Coghlan Jr...
(1932 serial) - The Phantom ExpressThe Phantom Express- Plot summary :A phantom express starts derailing trains, and threatens a company's future. The son of the owner must find out what is happening before the company is sold.- Cast :*William Collier Jr. as Bruce Harrington*Sally Blane as Carolyn Nolan...
(1932) - Music in the AirMusic in the Air (film)Music in the Air is a 1934 romantic comedy musical film based on Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Broadway musical of the same name. It stars Gloria Swanson as a opera diva, John Boles as her librettist and Douglass Montgomery as an aspiring songwriter who stumbles into their stormy...
(1934) - The Dark HourThe Dark Hour (1936 film)-Cast:*Ray Walker as Jim Landis*Berton Churchill as Paul Bernard*Irene Ware as Elsa Carson*Hobart Bosworth as Charles Carson*Hedda Hopper as Mrs. Tallman*E.E. Clive as Foot, the Butler*Harold Goodwin as Peter Blake*William V. Mong as Henry Carson...
(1936) - General SpankyGeneral SpankyGeneral Spanky is a 1936 American comedy film produced by Hal Roach. A spin-off of Roach's popular Our Gang short subjects, the film stars George "Spanky" McFarland, Phillips Holmes, Rosina Lawrence, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer...
(1936) - The Secret of Treasure IslandThe Secret of Treasure IslandThe Secret of Treasure Island is a Columbia movie serial based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. The serial is broken into fifteen chapters. Reporter Larry Kent travels to an island in the Caribbean to investigate the disappearance of his colleague, and discovers that the island...
(1938 serial)