William Jonathan Humphrey (January 2, 1875 - October 4, 1942) was an American

United States

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

 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...

 and film 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:...

.

Born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, William Humphrey was a well-known member of the early stock company of Vitagraph Studios

Vitagraph Studios

American Vitagraph was a United States movie studio, founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York. By 1907 it was the most prolific American film production company, producing many famous silent films. It was bought by Warner Bros...

. Without the romantic looks to become a real star, he nevertheless played leads in Shakespeare and other important studio productions of the day.

In the late silent era, Humphrey, with other original Vitagraph actors such as Florence Turner

Florence Turner

Florence Turner was an American actress, who became known as the "Vitagraph Girl" in early silent films.Born in New York City, she was pushed into appearing on the stage at age three by her ambitious mother...

, Maurice Costello

Maurice Costello

Maurice Costello was a prominent vaudeville actor of the late 1890s and early 1900s, who later played a principal role in early American films, as both a leading man, supporting player and a director....

, and Flora Finch

Flora Finch

Flora Finch was an English-born film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company.-Early life and career:...

, was kept on the 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...

 payroll for expert playing of character roles

Character actor

A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

. For MGM, he had roles in One Night in Rome

One Night in Rome

One Night in Rome is a 1924 film starring Laurette Taylor. The film was directed by Clarence G. Badger and written J. Hartley Manners, Ms. Taylor's husband, based upon his play. Laurette Taylor was a great name of the American theatre, who made only three films in a triumph-studded career, all of...

(1924) starring Laurette Taylor

Laurette Taylor

Laurette Taylor was an American stage and silent film actress.-Personal life:Laurette Taylor was born in New York City of Irish extraction as Loretta Helen Cooney.-Personal life:...

 and The Actress

The Actress (1928 film)

The Actress is a 1928 silent drama film produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin and starred Norma Shearer....

(1928) starring Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer

Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...

. He continued in films until 1937.

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