William Garwood

Early life

William Davis Garwood, Jr. was born in Springfield, Missouri. He attended public schools in Springfield before moving to New Mexico at the age of 15. He moved back to Springfield to attend Drury College, where he was awarded prizes for his abilities in dramatic reading and literature. While at Drury, Garwood ran the 100-yard (91 m) dash in 10.20 seconds and also played on the football team. His father hoped that he would follow a career in metallurgy and secured a position for his son with a zinc company in Joplin, Missouri but Garwood pursued acting instead.

Early years

Garwood began his acting career in 1903 for $3.50 per week with the Lakeside Theatre at Elitch's Gardens in Denver. For two years, he worked odd jobs in addition to taking minor stage roles with the stock company, which at the time included such players as Maude Fealy, Bruce McRae, Douglas Fairbanks and Edward Mackey. After living in Denver for two seasons, he moved to New York City in 1905 where he worked with Virginia Harned, after which he joined the Frohman management in the original production of Mizpah. Later, he was with Kyrle Bellew in Brigadier Girard and with S. Miller Kent in Raffles. Between productions, he worked with a number of stock companies including those at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco and the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Among his appearances on stage, Garwood considered his work with Dustin Farnum in the traveling company of Cameo Kirby, to be one of his early career highlights in stage acting. This was his last appearance on stage prior to his debut in films.

Films and directing

In November 1909, Garwood joined Thanhouser Company in New Rochelle, New York and was seen in his first Thanhouser film by 1910. He departed from Thanhouser in the autumn of 1911, by which time he was one of the studio's most popular actors. He returned in June 1912 after a season on the stage with the Stubbs-Mackay stock company playing roles in The Prisoner of Zenda, Mills of the Gods, and other plays at the Southern Theatre in Columbus, Ohio during his hiatus from the screen.

On April 30, 1913, the Thanhouser company relocated from Los Angeles to New York, but Garwood remained behind in the same studio in Los Angeles, which was acquired by Majestic Motion Picture Company, and became, with Francelia Billington and Fred Mace, one of three featured stars in the "New Majestic" films. On March 21, 1914, Garwood moved from Majestic to American Studios, in which he starred with Vivian Rich under the direction of Sidney Ayres, in his first film at the American Studios.

Garwood left American Studios after eight months and signed a two-year contract with Universal Film Manufacturing Company in late May 1914. Garwood's first picture for Universal was On Dangerous Ground, released in 1915. By this time, Garwood's popularity had risen and he became a popular leading man with a sizable female fan base. During this time, he worked exclusively with a popular actress of the time, Violet Mersereau, with whom he starred in a number of short films. They worked together in many one-reel comedy film that year, including You Can't Always Tell, Destiny's Trump Card, Uncle's New Blazer, The Adventure of the Yellow Curl Papers, Wild Blood and The Supreme Impulse. During his time at Universal, Garwood also starred as the title character in Lord John in New York (now considered lost). Based on the short story by A.M. Williamson, the film proved to be popular with audiences and Garwood starred in four more Lord John films over the following months.

Garwood remained with Universal, where by 1916 he had moved in directing and was one of several dozen directors at Universal City, California. In December 1916, he signed with Kay-Bee Pictures (which released through the Triangle Film Corporation). In 1917 Garwood starred in the films A Magdalene of the Hills (Rolfe for Metro Pictures) and The Little Brother (Kay-Bee for Triangle).

For the next two years he was involved in many films both in acting and directing, including acting for Ince and the Authors' Film Company. He appeared in the 1919 film Wives and Other Wives (American for Pathe) and both directed and acted in the 1919 Universal picture, A Proxy Husband, which was to be his last screen appearance.

Personal life

Garwood was a lifelong bachelor and had no children.

Interests and hobbies

In the early summer of 1913, when he was acting in the Majestic film The Toy, Garwood began a lifelong love of farming and cultivation, particularly of onions, and began cultivating on a commercial basis on an onion patch on the farm of actor Irving Cummings in his spare time from film. He was also a fervent vegetarian.

Garwood owned several properties; he owned a large ranch near Los Angeles along with seaside lots. He also purchased farm land in Santa Barbara. In 1914 he purchased a six-room bungalow in Whittier, California and oversaw 3 acres (12,000 m²) of irrigated crops.

In addition to real estate and gardening, Garwood was interested in geology, an interest which remained through his life created by his father from a young age and he spent many weekends in the pursuit of mineral specimens. He was also an avid motor racer.

Later years and death

By the late 1910s, Garwood's career began to falter because of his chronic alcoholism. He made his final screen appearance in 1919's A Proxy Husband, which he also directed after which he retired. Garwood reportedly lived off of the fortune he made through various investments.

On December 18, 1950, William Garwood died of cirrhosis due to alcoholism in Los Angeles at the age of 66.