Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Academy Founders 11

N.B. The member numbers follow The Internet Movie Database's list order announcing the Academy in January 1927. 


11. Fred Niblo (Frederick Liedtke, 1874-1948) of the Directors Branch. 


Niblo had something of a specialty during the silent period: replacing directors who had lost control of their productions. He is most famous for rescuing BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST (1925) and then Greta Garbo's film THE TEMPTRESS (1926). 


His career limped into the sound era, but his last successful films were silents: CAMILLE (1926), with Norma Talmadge and Gilbert Roland, and the splendid MYSTERIOUS LADY (1928), with Garbo and Conrad Nagel (A.M.P.A.S. founder #5).


Niblo's first wife was Josephine Cohan, sister of George M. Cohan; his second was Enid Bennett, star of many of his early films.

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