William Russell

William Russell

Acting

April 12, 1884 — February 18, 1929
The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
96 movies

Biography

From Wikipedia William Russell (April 12, 1884 – February 18, 1929), born William Francis Lerche, was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He appeared in over two hundred silent era motion pictures between 1910 and 1929, directing five of them in 1916 and producing two through his own production company in 1918 and 1925. Russell began his screen career in New York with the Biograph Company, where he worked for nine months before signing with the Thanhouser Company. He was al...

🎬 William Russell's Filmography

96 movies sorted by popularity

A Sporting Chance
6.0

John Stonehouse (William Russell) checks into a hotel, intending to commit suicide. But instead he winds up helping a girl, Gilberte Bonheur (Fritzi Brunette), out of a jam. He finds her bending over a man who she has apparently killed, and since he's about to kill himself anyway, he offers to assume the blame. Throw a valuable emerald into the works, and the fact that the dead man suddenly comes back to life, and Stonehouse -- not to mention the audience -- becomes thoroughly befuddled by it all. Everything clears up, however, when Gilberte gives him a theater ticket -- it turns out that everything he went through was the plot to a stage play, enacted in real life by the actors. The critics roasted the play, saying it wasn't true to life, and this was their proof that the situations really could happen. Gilberte retires from acting when Stonehouse proposes.

A Sporting Chance

1919
Shackles of Truth
10.0

Law partners, Gerard Hale and Luther Snaith, vie for a vacant Senate seat as well as the governor's daughter Marion. When Tom Shores and his sister Mary appear at the firm with the news that her two-year-old is the illegitimate child of Gerard's late father, Gerard Hale, Sr., Snaith sees the opportunity to win both the Senate seat and Marion. Gerard, feeling an obligation, gives Mary a check for $50,000. Luther has Mary and Tom seized by detectives to force an open admission from Gerard of culpability. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hale and Marion have stopped in to visit and Gerard, fearing the truth will prove fatal to his mother's ailing heart, claims that the baby is his. Mrs. Hale is confined to bed and Snaith blackmails Gerard to withdraw from the race. Mrs. Hale asks Gerard to do his duty and wed Mary. Mary wants to be truthful, but Gerard fears that may prove fatal to his mother. However, when Mrs. Hale dies, Gerard is freed from the shackles of truth.

Shackles of Truth

1917
All the World to Nothing

Richard Chester, a bachelor who has lost everything in a poker game, blunders into the apartment of Nora Ellis, who has just inherited a fortune under the stipulation that she marry immediately. Assuming the name Chester Dick, Richard marries Nora and leaves. Unaware of this marriage of convenience, Charles Renalls, Nora's suitor, later assumes that her wealth is the only impediment to their union and conspires to ruin her on the market. Upon learning of his scheme, Richard ruins Charles. Nora falls in love with Richard, not recognizing her benefactor as her husband of an evening. Hoping to spoil Richard's chances with Nora, Charles tells her that Richard is already married and that he carries his wife's picture in his pocket. To her surprise and delight, Nora discovers that the incriminating picture is her own photograph and that Richard is already her husband.

All the World to Nothing

1918
The Lincoln Highwayman
7.0

Masked bandit The Lincoln Highwayman terrorizes motorists on California highways. His latest victims are a San Francisco banker and his family on their way to a party. While the masked highwayman holds them up at gun point and steals the women's jewels, the banker's daughter Marian (Lois Lee) finds herself strangely attracted to him. When the family finally arrives at the party, they tell the guests their tale. Secret Serviceman Steele takes an interest in their encounter and starts working on the case. Jimmy Clunder (William Russell) arrives late and while talking to Marian a locket falls out of his pocket. Marian recognizes it, but Clunder claims that he found it on the Lincoln Highway. She begins to suspect that he is the Lincoln Highwayman, as does Steele, Clunder's rival for Marian's love.

The Lincoln Highwayman

1919
The Marble Heart
6.5

Outside the door of the home of a sculptor and his mother, fell a poor, friendless young girl. They took the girl in and cared for her, and as time went on the mother began to regard her as her daughter. The son regarded the affectionate advances of the girl with only brotherly love. But there came a time when the misgivings of the son changed, for he began to pay scant attentions to a young beauty he met at a reception and who was characterized as a woman with a heart "cold as marble." This piqued the beauty, who was accustomed to abject adulation. She determined to bring him to her feet and in this she succeeded. She offered to pose for him, and, spurred on by such a splendid model and her praises, he produced a figure which was acclaimed by all the critics as a masterpiece.

The Marble Heart

1913
Hearts or Diamonds?

Wealthy diamond collector Larry Hanrahan is given the opportunity to assist the beautiful, jewel-bedecked woman he admires in a Broadway café when she and her guardian are attacked by robbers. Larry is invited to visit the grateful pair, Col. Paul Gascoyne and his ward Adrienne, at the colonel's laboratory, where he is introduced to Wintermute, a chemist who produces imitation diamonds. In return, Larry asks them to view his priceless diamond collection. Although he has fallen in love with Adrienne, Larry is forced to believe that she is a thief when he is robbed by a woman wearing Adrienne's scarf. Larry finds his jewels in Gascoyne's house, but before he can escape, a group of thugs overpowers him. Adrienne assists him in contacting the police, who arrive in time to capture Gascoyne and his gang. Badly wounded, the colonel confesses that Adrienne has been his innocent dupe, whereupon Larry happily takes her to his heart.

Hearts or Diamonds?

1918
William Russell | MovieMind AI