Joseph Henabery Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

, was a US film actor, screenplay writer, and director.

Career

Henabery's acting career began in The Joke on Yellentown (1914). Henabery appeared in the 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...

  silent film

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 Birth of a Nation (1915) as Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. From 1914 to 1917 he appeared in seventeen films.

Henabery also worked as a second-unit director on Griffith's 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), and supervised the filming of at least one extended sequence that appeared in the film. Throughout the rest of his career, he worked as a director. From the mid-1920s, and after professional disagreements with both Louis B. Mayer

Louis B. Mayer

Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...

 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 and Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...

 at 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...

, Henabery found employment as a director for smaller Hollywood studios. His career as a director of feature films ended by the late 1930s.

As Abraham Lincoln

Although Henabery's impersonation of Lincoln was a masterpiece of facial makeup, Henabery was significantly shorter than Lincoln. Kevin Brownlow

Kevin Brownlow

Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...

's book The Parade's Gone By (1968) contains a photo of Henabery in costume and makeup as Lincoln, seated in a chair with planks placed on the floor under Henabery's feet so that his knees are raised several inches; this effect (with the planks kept off-camera in the movie) made Henabery's legs appear several inches longer than they actually were.

Selected filmography

• Double or Nothing
  Double or Nothing (1936 film)
  Double or Nothing is a 1936 American short comedy film directed by Joseph Henabery. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 9th Academy Awards in 1936 for Best Short Subject .-Cast:* Phil Harris* Leah Ray* Harry Tyler* Vicki Joyce...
  
  (1936
  1936 in film
  The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
  
  )
• Cobra
  Cobra (1925 film)
  Cobra is a 1925 American silent film starring Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi. It is the screen adaptation of the play Cobra written by Martin Brown, which played at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway in 1924. -Synopsis:...
  
  (1925
  1925 in film
  -Events:*November 5: The Big Parade holds its Grand Premier*December 30: premier of Ben-Hur the most expensive silent film ever made costing 4-6 million dollars -Top grossing films :...
  
  )
• A Sainted Devil
  A Sainted Devil
  A Sainted Devil is a 1924 silent drama film starring Rudolph Valentino. The film is considered to be lost.-Cast:* Rudolph Valentino as Don Alonzo Castro* Nita Naldi as Carlotta* Helena D'Algy as Julietta...
  
  (1924
  1924 in film
  -Events:* Entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
  
  )
• Travelling Salesman
  Traveling Salesman (film)
  Traveling Salesman is a 1921 comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Bob Blake* Betty Ross Clarke - Beth Elliott* Frank Holland - Franklin Royce* Wilton Taylor - Martin Drury* Lucille Ward - Mrs. Babbitt...
  
  (1921
  1921 in film
  -Top grossing films :-Films released in 1921:U.S.A. unless stated*$10,000 Under a Pillow, silent film directed by Frank Moser*The Ace of Hearts, silent film directed by Wallace Worsley*Across the Divide, silent film directed by John Holloway...
  
  )
• Brewster's Millions
  Brewster's Millions (1921 film)
  Brewster's Millions is a 1921 comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle. It is an adaptation of the novel written by George Barr McCutcheon.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Monte Brewster* Betty Ross Clarke - Peggy* Fred Huntley - Mr. Brewster...
  
  (1921)
• Life of the Party
  Life of the Party (1920 film)
  Life of the Party is a 1920 short comedy film starring Fatty Arbuckle.-Cast:* Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle - Algernon Leary * Winifred Greenwood - Mrs. Carraway* Roscoe Karns - Sam Perkins* Julia Faye - 'French' Kate...
  
  (1920
  1920 in film
  The year 1920 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* November 27 - The Mark of Zorro, starring Douglas Fairbanks opens.-Top grossing films :-Films released in 1920:U.S.A. unless stated*The $1,000,000 Reward...
  
  )
• Mr. Fix-It
  Mr. Fix-It (1918 film)
  Mr. Fix-It is a silent film comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks, Marjorie Daw, and Wanda Hawley, directed by Allan Dwan at Artcraft Pictures, and released by Paramount Pictures.-Preservation status:...
  
  (1918) co-screenplay
• The Spell of the Poppy
  The Spell of the Poppy
  The Spell of the Poppy is a 1915 short drama film directed by Tod Browning. It concerns Manfredi, a young opium addict.-Cast:* Eugene Pallette - Manfredi* Lucille Young - Zuletta* Joseph Henabery - John Hale...
  
  (1915
  1915 in film
  The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 8 : D.W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation premieres at Clune's Auditorium Los Angeles and breaks box office and film length records, running at a total length of 3 hrs 10 minutes.* June 18 : The Motion Picture Directors...
  
  )
• 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)