Milton Sills
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.
Known For
Elam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson, Alaska gold rush and loses the million dollars in Dawson. He journeys to San Francisco, makes three million dollars and loses it in San Francisco. He returns to Alaska and eventually finds his treasure.
Burning Daylight
Nicola Riccobini, a puppet master in New York's Italian quarter, is an energetic and domineering man in the family, in contrast to his dreamy, poetic cousin Bruno.
Puppets
Clara Kimball Young stars as Mary Saurin, a British gentlewoman who journeys to South Africa to visit her district-commissioner brother Dick (Henry Woodward). Upon arriving, she is introduced to Major Anthony "Kim" Kinsella (Milton Sills), the most important and influential Army officer in the region. Falling in love with Kinsella, Mary agrees to marry him, but he is apparently killed in a native uprising.
The Claw
The plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud Doyle (Milton Sills) is still being hounded by the cops, and both his wife (Marcia Nanon) and a former associate, a dishonest politician, want to do him in.
Skin Deep
After a daredevil demonstration of aviator stunts, Anthony Fortescue-Stirling, more familiarly known as Tony, is cast adrift by his father. He meets Chrissie, of vaudeville fame, at a fancy-dress ball and falls in love with her.
Paradise
Based on the novel The Spoilers by Rex Beach.
The Spoilers
A kindly old sheik is being deceived by his villainous son, who seeks to destroy his father by uniting with the enemy tribe. However, the plan is foiled by a young English philosopher who lives alone at the oasis. In the ensuing battle the villain is killed, leaving the way clear for the happy marriage of the philosopher and the young woman he loves. A lost film.
Burning Sands
The adventures of Oliver Tressilian, who goes from English gentry to galley slave to captain of a Moorish fighting ship.
The Sea Hawk
Bryce Cardigan struggles to protect his Redwood inheritance from a railroad-owner, who is also the guardian of the woman Bryce loves.
The Valley of the Giants
Spies from Japan conspire to steal the Channing "preparedness" fortune and invade the United States, beginning in New York, then allying themselves with Mexicans across the border. They are stopped by the efforts of munitions factory heiress Patria Channing and U.S. Secret Service agent Donald Parr.
Patria
A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life, and his premature death.
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
Souls for Sale
A likely lost film. The passengers on an ocean steamer guided by a strict captain are shipwrecked. He gives the main woman in the group 24 hours to choose her mate from among the motley community.
The Isle of Lost Ships
An outcast who runs a road house of ill repute leads his mother to believe him dead. His only friend, a doctor, falls for a married woman.
One Clear Call
A hard-boiled nightclub owner saves a beautiful young girl from drowning. He promptly falls in love with her, but she prefers a younger, more-genteel lover.
Man Trouble
As her first wedding anniversary approaches, a young wife begins to believe that her husband doesn't love her anymore, and she turns to a former suitor for comfort. Soon she makes up her mind to leave her husband, but when he is seriously injured she must decide if she really wants to end her marriage.
Single Wives
A novelist's success causes a rift between her and her rancher husband.
What a Wife Learned
Wrongfully court martialed from the French Army Captain Hilaire heads to Brazil. Upon arrival he is hired as a foreman in a Diamond mine eventually falling in love with the boss’s daughter, Diane. Remsen who wants both Hilaire’s job and Diane frames him for stealing from the company while Hilarie is away. Convicted, he is sent to a Devil's Island-like prison camp. Eventually, Remson, too is sent there, where he confesses on his death bed, freeing Hilaire.
Framed
Famous playwright Paul Worden decamps to a country bungalow to work on a new play, rehearsing with his leading lady, Marjorie Sinclair, who is staying nearby. Going riding one day to relax, Paul rescues his neighbor, teenager Diana Ardway when her horse runs wild. The pair clash initially, as she does with Marjorie, but after a series of misunderstandings true love triumphs.
Satan Junior
Sir Edward Pelham, married to a Romani Russian, fears that his daughter will follow in her mother's footsteps and arranges a marriage with her cousin, whom she does not love. During a trip to Nevada with her father, she meets engineer Bayard Delavel, who saves her life when she is bitten by a snake; when her father finds her with Bayard in his cabin, he forces them to marry. Believing that Nadine does not love him, Delavel leaves her and prepares to sue for divorce. A lost film.