Wilfred Lucas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wilfred Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian-born American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter.

Wilfred Lucas made his Broadway debut in 1904, playing in both the The Blue Grass Handicap and The Superstition of Sue. Following his 1906 role in the highly successful play The Chorus Lady, he was recruited to the fledgling Biograph Studios by D. W. Griffith.

At the time, the film business was still looked down upon by many members of the theatrical community. In her 1925 book titled When the Movies Were Young, Griffith's wife, actress Linda Arvidson, told the story of the early days at Biograph Studios. In it, she referred to Lucas as the "first real grand actor, democratic enough to work in Biograph movies." In 1908 Lucas made his motion picture debut in Griffith's The Greaser's Gauntlet, appearing in more than 50 of these short (usually 17 minutes) films over the next two years.

In 1910 while still acting, he wrote the script for Griffith's film Sunshine Sue, which was followed by many more scripts by 1924. Lucas also began directing in 1912 with Griffith on An Outcast Among Outcasts, and directed another 44 films over the next 20 years.

In early 1916 he starred as John Carter in Acquitted, about which Photoplay wrote, "No single performance in the records of active photography has surpassed his visualization of the humble book-keeper in Acquitted." Later in 1916 he appeared in D.W. Griffith's film Intolerance.

Part of the group of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, Lucas became friends and sometimes starred with Mary Pickford, Sam De Grasse, and Marie Dressler. Canadian-born director Mack Sennett hired him to both direct and act in a large number of films at his Keystone Studios.

Lucas made the successful transition from silent film to sound. While working in Hollywood, in 1926 he returned to the stage, performing in several Broadway plays. He later appeared as a foil for Laurel and Hardy in their feature films Pardon Us and A Chump at Oxford.

During his long career, Wilfred Lucas appeared in more than 375 films. Although for a time he was cast in leading roles, he became very successful as secondary and minor characters, making a good living in the film industry for more than three decades.

Modern Times

8.3

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

7.9

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

7.1

Waterloo Bridge

7.5

They Drive by Night

6.9

The Devil-Doll

6.8

Dodge City

6.9

A Chump at Oxford

6.9

Cleopatra

6.1

Pardon Us

6.5

Marked Woman

6.5

Dishonored

6.8

The Devil's Brother

6.7

The Sea Wolf

7.1

Each Dawn I Die

6.8

Black Legion

6.6

Les Misérables

7.2

The Lonedale Operator

6.1

Santa Fe Trail

5.7

The Girl and Her Trust

6.3

What Price Hollywood?

6.7

Brother Orchid

6.4

Virginia City

6.1

Four Daughters

6.5

The Mayor of Hell

7.1

The Fighting 69th

5.4

His Trust

4.1

Midnight Mary

6.9

Edison, the Man

6.6

Madam Satan

5.9

The Massacre

5.9

Naughty Marietta

5.1

The Return of Chandu

4.7

Kind Lady

6.6

Raffles

6.0

Millie

5.6

Call Her Savage

5.8

One Night of Love

5.5

The Phantom

3.8

The Dragon Murder Case

5.8

His Trust Fulfilled

3.7

The Baroness and the Butler

5.2

Swords and Hearts

4.6

I Cover the Waterfront

5.1

Zenobia

4.6

Nick Carter, Master Detective

5.7

The Miser's Heart

6.0

The Sphinx

4.8

Big City Blues

5.3

Mary Stevens, M.D.

6.0

A Dispatch from Reuters

5.7

Riders of the Purple Sage

5.7

The Sorrows of Satan

6.7

Give Me Liberty

6.1

Frisco Kid

6.8

Man's Genesis

4.6

Beloved Enemy

6.1

Four Wives

5.1

Flesh and Blood

5.9

The Man Without a Country

5.6

What Shall We Do with Our Old?

5.5

Cross-Examination

5.1

The Three Musketeers

5.6

Navy Blue and Gold

5.9

Through The Back Door

6.0

The Declaration of Independence

6.1

The House on 56th Street

5.2

Chandu on the Magic Island

4.8

Enoch Arden: Part I

5.5

Enoch Arden: Part II

5.5

Phantom Thunderbolt

4.3

The Taming of the Shrew

4.9

The Intruder

4.2

A Man to Remember

6.5

The Rose of Kentucky

5.6

California Mail

4.8

Enoch Arden

5.8

Tear Gas Squad

4.8

1776, or The Hessian Renegades

5.2

The Dark Horse

7.2

Varsity Show

6.0

High Tension

5.4

Legion of the Lawless

5.2

Stranded

5.8

Convicted

4.5

Idol of the Crowds

4.1

When a Man Loves

4.2

Criminal Lawyer

5.9

Careless Lady

5.2

We Who Are About to Die

6.8

The White Angel

8.0

You Said a Mouthful

5.0

Women in the Wind

6.8

The Preview Murder Mystery

6.0

Free Wheeling

7.8

The Man from Kangaroo

5.6

The Westland Case

6.0

Rich Man's Folly

4.5

The Renunciation

4.4

Vagabond Lady

7.2

Brute Force

5.3

Cock o' the Walk

3.2

Night Spot

4.7

Under Burning Skies

4.7

The Country Doctor

6.0

Those Who Dance

6.0

Show Them No Mercy!

7.0

Women Without Names

4.8

Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall

4.3

The Making of a Man

6.3

One a Minute

6.3

The Transformation of Mike

4.5

Winning Back His Love

4.0

Love on a Bet

7.0

Brother Rat

5.0

The Primal Call

4.0

Men Call It Love

4.5

Strange People

4.5

Missing Witnesses

5.5

A Strange Meeting

4.3

The Devil Horse

4.0

Prairie Thunder

3.5

Billy's Stratagem

5.0

The Arizona Kid

5.5

Talent Scout

6.0

Heart Beats of Long Ago

5.0

Graft

4.5

Midnight Blunders

4.0

Shrimps for a Day

7.0

Chatterbox

6.0

Breakdowns of 1938

5.0

Big Ears

4.5

The Price She Paid

4.0

A Temporary Truce

4.0

Angkor

6.0

What Every Woman Wants

1.0

The Galloping Ghost

2.0

The Kentucky Derby

5.0

House of Mystery

8.0

Red Noses

7.0

Air Fright

5.0

Almost a Gentleman

6.0

The Daredevil Drivers

5.0

Looser Than Loose

4.0

The Marshal Of Mesa City

8.0

The Day the Bookies Wept

5.0

She Loved a Fireman

6.0

Women in Hiding

7.0

The Valley of Hate

5.0

The Secrets of Wu Sin

6.0

Blazing Sixes

6.0

The Girl and the Outlaw

3.0

Mile a Minute Love

6.0

Triple Justice

6.0

Land Beyond the Law

7.0

The Honor of Thieves

1.5

His Daughter

4.0

Over the Wall

5.0

Human Cargo

6.0

Hello Sister

1.0

The Greaser's Gauntlet

1.0

Hot Water

5.0

The Failure

4.0

Stranger in Town

3.0

Valley of Hate

5.0

Apples to You!

7.0

The Rocky Road

4.0

The Big Cage

6.0

Love Your Neighbor

0.0

Homicide Squad

0.0

Stormy

0.0

The Hushed Hour

0.0

A Broadway Butterfly

0.0

Heroes of the Street

0.0

Paid Back

0.0

The Long Road

0.0

The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch

0.0

The Fighting Sap

0.0

Lightning Romance

0.0

The Super Snooper

0.0

North of Nevada

0.0

Soldiers of Fortune

0.0

The Bad Lands

0.0

The Unwritten Law

0.0

Love Time

0.0

Stockholm ”Queen of the Baltic”

0.0

Freshman Year

0.0

Racing for Life

0.0

The Moth

0.0

Sister to Judas

0.0

The Lily and the Rose

0.0

The Age for Love

0.0

A Terrible Discovery

0.0

As No Man Has Loved

0.0

Macbeth

0.0

The Spanish Jade

0.0

The Greatest Menace

0.0

Daughters of Pleasure

0.0

Jim Bludso

0.0

Gentleman Burglar

0.0

A Sailor’s Heart

0.0

Empty Holsters

0.0

Rip Roaring Riley

0.0

The Arizonian

0.0

The Best of Laurel and Hardy

0.0

A Woman of Pleasure

0.0

The Beautiful Liar

0.0

The Tabasco Kid

0.0

Souls Triumphant

0.0

Hands Up!

0.0

A Love Sublime

0.0

Cyclone Cavalier

0.0

Her Sacrifice

0.0

The Wood Nymph

0.0

A Pueblo Legend

0.0

Home Folks

0.0

Just Like a Woman

0.0

Fate's Interception

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Fisher Folks

0.0

Young Donovan's Kid

0.0

Burnt Fingers

0.0

Jazzmania

0.0

Down on the Farm

0.0

Safety in Numbers

0.0

The Co-respondent

0.0

The Two Paths

0.0

The Diamond Star

0.0

Sins of Ambition

0.0

A Woman Scorned

0.0

Love in the Hills

0.0

The Fighting Breed

0.0

The Girl of the Golden West

0.0

Trilby

0.0

Racetrack

0.0

The Microscope Mystery

0.0

Hell-to-Pay Austin

0.0

Acquitted

0.0

A Tender-Hearted Crook

0.0

When Kings Were the Law

0.0

Pure Gold and Dross

0.0

Across the Dead-Line

0.0

The Midnight Patrol

0.0

Lucky Larrigan

0.0

The Widow and the Widower

0.0

The Judgment House

0.0

How Baxter Butted In

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