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Milton Sills

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Occupation
  
Actor

Role
  
Film actor

Name
  
Milton Sills

Milton Sills The Mighty Milton Sills TwoFisted HeMan of the Silent
Born
  
January 12, 1882 (
1882-01-12
)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Years active
  
1906—1914 (stage) 1914—1930 (film)

Died
  
September 15, 1930, Santa Barbara, California, United States

Spouse
  
Doris Kenyon (m. 1926–1930), Gladys Edith Wynne (m. 1910–1925)

Children
  
Kenyon Clarence Sills, Dorothy Sills

Books
  
Values, a Philosophy of Human Needs

Movies
  
The Sea Hawk, The Great Moment, Miss Lulu Bett, The Barker, Patria

Similar People
  
Doris Kenyon, Frank Lloyd, George Melford, Charles Brabin, George Fitzmaurice

Strolling through rosehill cemetery actor milton sills


Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century.

Contents

Milton Sills wwwsilentsaregoldencomphotos3miltonsills2jpg

Biography

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 1908, while Sills was performing in New York City, he garnered critical praise from such notable Broadway producers as David Belasco and Charles Frohman. That same year he made his Broadway debut in This Woman and This Man, which was an immediate success with both the theatergoing public and critics. From 1908 to 1914, Sills appeared in about a dozen Broadway shows, becoming a crowd favorite and attaining a great deal of fame.

In 1910, Sills married English stage actress Gladys Edith Wynne, a niece of actress Edith Wynne Matthison. The union produced one child, Dorothy Sills, and the couple divorced in 1925. In 1926, Sills remarried, this time to silent film actress Doris Kenyon. The couple had a son, Kenyon Clarence Sills, born in 1927.

Motion Pictures

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 Metro Pictures, Famous Players-Lasky, and Pathe 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).

On May 11, 1927, Sills had the distinction of being among the original 36 individuals in the film industry to found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. Fellow performers included: Mary Pickford, Richard Barthelmess, Jack Holt, Conrad Nagel, Douglas Fairbanks, and Harold Lloyd.

Sills' last work was not The Sea Wolf (1930) but a book published posthumously in 1932: Values: A Philosophy of Human Needs - Six Dialogues on Subjects from Reality to Immortality - co-edited by Ernest Holmes. Milton Sills was an unusual blend of actor and academic.

Death

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 Brentwood Estate in Los Angeles, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois. In December 1930, Photoplay published a poem found among his personal effects. It was untitled and written by him to his wife, Doris Kenyon: "Death cannot end all things, if love denied / Must find fulfillment, as indeed it must / Though you and I descend into the dust / And in the earth commingle side by side / Yet shall our frustrate ghosts triumph and ride / To some far heaven, where our love and trust / Anoint the bridegroom and the bride / Then hushed and dreamlike shall our footsteps wind / Through fields of deathless asphodel, where blows / No sharp wind of despair, and we shall find / Each other's hands again; and all our woes / Shall be forgot; our spirits sky-enshrined / While heart with crumbled heart climbs in the rose."

Sills' only son, Kenyon Sills (1927-1971), also died at an early age, 43. He was survived by his mother, Doris Kenyon.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Milton Sills was awarded a star on the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California.

Filmography

Actor
1930
The Sea Wolf as
'Wolf' Larsen
1930
Man Trouble as
Mac
1929
Love and the Devil as
Lord Dryan
1929
His Captive Woman as
Officer Thomas McCarthy
1928
The Crash as
Jim Flannagan
1928
The Barker as
Nifty Miller
1928
The Hawk's Nest as
The Hawk / John Finchley
1928
Burning Daylight as
Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish
1927
The Valley of the Giants as
Bryce Cardigan
1927
Hard-Boiled Haggerty as
Hard-Boiled Haggerty
1927
Framed as
Etienne Hilaire
1927
The Sea Tiger as
Justin Ramos
1926
The Silent Lover as
Count Pierre Tornal
1926
Paradise as
Tony
1926
Men of Steel as
Jan Bokak
1926
Puppets as
Nicki
1925
The Unguarded Hour as
Andrea
1925
The Knockout as
Sandy Donlin
1925
The Making of O'Malley as
O'Malley
1925
I Want My Man as
Gulian Eyre
1925
As Man Desires as
Major John Craig
1924
Madonna of the Streets as
Reverend John Morton
1924
Single Wives as
Perry Jordan
1924
The Sea Hawk as
Sir Oliver Tressilian
1924
Flowing Gold as
Calvin Gray
1924
The Heart Bandit as
John Rand
1924
A Lady of Quality as
Gerald Mertoun, Duke of Osmonde
1923
Flaming Youth as
Cary Scott
1923
Legally Dead as
Will Campbell / George Brown
1923
The Spoilers as
Roy Glennister
1923
Souls for Sale as
Milton Sills (uncredited)
1923
The Isle of Lost Ships as
Frank Howard
1923
What a Wife Learned as
Rudolph Martin
1923
Adam's Rib as
Michael Ramsay
1923
The Last Hour as
Steve Cline
1922
The Marriage Chance as
William Bradley
1922
Environment as
Steve MacLaren
1922
The Forgotten Law as
Richard Jarnette
1922
Burning Sands as
Daniel Lane
1922
Skin Deep as
Bud Doyle
1922
Borderland as
James Wayne
1922
The Woman Who Walked Alone as
Clement Gaunt
1922
One Clear Call as
Dr. Alan Hamilton
1921
Miss Lulu Bett as
Neil Cornish
1921
At the End of the World as
Gordon Deane
1921
The Great Moment as
Bayard Delaval
1921
Salvage as
Fred Martin
1921
The Little Fool as
Richard Forrest
1921
The Faith Healer as
Michaelis
1920
The Furnace as
Keene Mordaunt
1920
Sweet Lavender as
Horace Weather Burn
1920
Behold My Wife as
Frank Armour
1920
The Week-End as
Arthur Tavenor
1920
Dangerous to Men as
Sandy Verrall
1920
The Inferior Sex as
Knox Randall
1920
The Street Called Straight as
Peter Devenant
1919
Eyes of Youth as
Louis Anthony
1919
A Model Husband (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1919
The Fear Woman as
Robert Craig
1919
The Woman Thou Gavest Me as
Conrad
1919
The Hushed Hour as
Luke Appleton
1919
The Stronger Vow as
Juan Estudillo
1919
Satan Junior as
Paul Worden
1919
Shadows as
Judson Barnes
1918
The Hell Cat as
Sheriff Jack Webb
1918
The Bonds That Tie (Short) as
A Soldier
1918
The Savage Woman as
Jean Lerier
1918
Oh! Man! (Short) as
Uncle Henry (as Milton Sims)
1918
The Butler's Blunder (Short) as
The Butler (as Milton Sims)
1918
Passing the Bomb (Short) as
Father (as Milton Sims)
1918
Butter Again (Short) as
City Fop (as Milton Sims)
1918
The Claw as
Major Anthony Kinsella
1918
Who's Your Wife? (Short) as
Claude (as Milton Sims)
1918
The Yellow Ticket as
Julian Rolfe
1918
The Mysterious Client as
Harry Nelson
1918
Love and a Gold Brick (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
The Reason Why as
Lord Tancred
1918
The Struggle Everlasting as
Mind, aka Bruce
1918
It's a Cruel World (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
The Shifty Shoplifter (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
A Playwright's Wrong (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
Nothing But Nerve (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
A Lady Killer's Doom (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
A Sea Serpent's Desire (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
The Other Woman as
Mr. Harrington
1918
His Punctured Reputation (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1918
Cave Man Stuff (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1917
Diamonds and Pearls as
RobertVan Ellstrom
1917
Afraid to Be False (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1917
Secret Servants (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1917
The Fringe of Society as
Martin Drake
1917
Married in Name Only as
Robert Worthing
1917
Who Done It? (Short) as
The Inspector (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Wart on the Wire (Short) as
2nd Crook (as Milton Sims)
1917
Her Naughty Choice (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1917
The Masked Marvels (Short) as
Milt (as Milton Sims)
1917
Marble Heads (Short) as
Julep Jasbo (as Milton Sims)
1917
Circus Sarah (Short) as
Rudolph Ringtail (as Milton Sims)
1917
Hawaiian Nuts (Short) as
Professor Jasbo (as Milton Sims)
1917
Nearly a Queen (Short) as
Felix (as Milton Sims)
1917
A Gale of Verse (Short) as
Jerry (as Milton Sims)
1917
Busting Into Society (Short) as
Rupert (as Milton Sims)
1917
Mrs. Madam, Manager (Short) as
Mrs. Madam's Husband (as Milton Sims)
1917
Souls Adrift as
Micah Steele
1917
The Vamp of the Camp (Short) as
Slick Stevens - the Stranger (as Milton Sims)
1917
Back to the Kitchen (Short) as
Mr. Halley (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Stinger Stung (Short) as
Jeremiah (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Soubrette (Short) as
Zeke (as Milton Sims)
1917
Some Nurse (Short) as
Hubby (as Milton Sims)
1917
Kitchenella (Short) as
Count Jassbo (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Twitching Hour (Short) as
Launcelot (as Milton Sims)
1917
Not Too Thin to Fight (Short) as
Willie - the Widow's Brother (as Milton Sims)
1917
A Burglar's Bride (Short) as
Mr. Buffem (as Milton Sims)
1917
Making Monkey Business (Short) as
The Flea (as Milton Sims)
1917
Simple Sapho (Short) as
The Artist (as Milton Sims)
1917
Swearing Off (Short) as
Milt (as Milton Sims)
1917
Flat Harmony (Short) as
Foley (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Thousand-Dollar Drop (Short) as
Svengali (as Milton Sims)
1917
His Family Tree (Short) as
Harmon Hicks (as Milton Sims)
1917
The Woman in the Case (Short) as
The Kid (as Milton Sims)
1917
A Bare Living (Short) as
Tramp #1 (as Milton Sims)
1917
It's Cheaper to Be Single (Short)(as Milton Sims)
1917
The Honor System as
Joseph Stanton
1917
It's Cheaper to Be Married (Short) as
Fritz (as Milton Sims)
1917
Patria as
Capt. Donald Parr
1916
The Rack as
Tom Gordon
1915
The Woman Who Lied (Short) as
Jack Stanley
1915
Under Southern Skies as
Burleigh Mavor
1915
The Taming of Mary (Short) as
Harry Benton
1915
The Arrival of Perpetua as
Thaddeus Curzon
1915
The Deep Purple as
William Lake
1914
The Pit as
Corthell
Writer
1926
Men of Steel (screenplay) / (story)
1925
A Lover's Oath (manuscript)
Editor
1925
A Lover's Oath
Self
1927
A Trip Through the Paramount Studio (Documentary short) as
Self
1923
Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 21 (Documentary short)
1922
Seeing Stars (Documentary short) as
Self
1922
A Trip to Paramountown (Documentary short) as
Self
Archive Footage
1961
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino (Video documentary) as
Self
1938
Personality Parade (Documentary short) as
Self (uncredited)
1934
Movie Memories #2 (Documentary short) as
Self
1933
March of the Movies as
Self - film clip (uncredited)

References

Milton Sills Wikipedia