Chaplin

Rod La Rocque and Mildred Harris

THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. (1926) was a late silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille. It starred Rod La Rocque (1898-1969) and Mildred Harris (1901-1944), today most famous as Charlie Chaplin's first wife. The plot of THE CRUISE OF THE JASPER B. revolves around a stolen inheritance and has elements suggesting reincarnation: it also boasts more than one scene where the hero (or the heroine) must appear in fetching undress.

By 1926, La Rocque had already appeared in DeMille's first TEN COMMANDMENTS (with Theodore Roberts and Julia Faye), and in 1927 DeMille served as best man at La Rocque's marriage to Vilma Bánky. The range of careers Cecil B. DeMille launched, or helped, is quite as remarkable as the length and variety of his career. 

Academy Founders 4

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

4. Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) of the Actors Branch, in a photo attributed to Russell Ball (1891-1942).

A comedy star of the same wattage as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Lloyd specialized in a comedy of dangerous pratfalls — he was the “normal” youth in every group, the one whose disasters were both funny and educational.

The long sunset of his career was marked by continuing relevance in industry and Hollywood society circles; the Lloyds’ “Greenacres” was, like the Fairbankses’ “Pickfair,” a local showplace. 

He married his co-star Mildred Davis (1901-1969) in 1923.

Academy Founders 2

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

2. Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.) (Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman, 1883-1939) of the Actors Branch (and first president of the Academy, 1927-29), shown here with his son Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (1909-2000).

The star of THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH (1916) as Coke Ennyday -- not to mention 1918's SWAT THE KAISER -- by the end of the decade he had become a top film star. A founder of United Artists with Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith, during the 1920s Fairbanks went from strength to strength as an action/comedy star (THE MARK OF ZORRO, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, ROBIN HOOD, and THE IRON MASK, among others). Like Richard Barthelmess, his star waned during the 1930s.

He was married to Mary Pickford 1920-36.

Walter Frederick Seely (1886-1959)

Initially a photographer in partnership with his brothers, Seely went to work for Hartsook Studios in Los Angeles before going off on his own. 

There’s a bit of a theme here. 

Edmund Burns (1892-1980) — his career peaked during the 1920s.

Ben Lyon (1901-1979) was married to Bebe Daniels 1930-71 and to Marian Nixon in 1972. All three were stars in silent film, Lyon most prominently in the early sound picture HELL’S ANGELS (1930).

Carl Miller (1894-1979), best-remembered for his roles in two Charlie Chaplin films: THE KID (1921) and A WOMAN OF PARIS (1923).

Conway Tearle (Frederick Conway Levy, 1878-1938), part of the Conway and Tearle clan of actors. His stage career began at the turn of the century, leading to matinée idol status in silent films.