Al J. Jennings
actor, producer, writer
- Birth name:
- Alphonso J. Jennings
- Born:
- 1863-11-25, Virginia, USA
- Died:
- 1961-12-26, Tarzana, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, producer, writer
Biography
Virginia soil first cradled Al J. Jennings on 25 November 1863, and from that moment forward his life refused to run in a straight line. By the 1910s he had traded courthouse briefs for camera lenses, scripting and starring in the kind of westerns that still smelled of campfire smoke—*Beating Back* (1914) announced him, *The Lady of the Dugout* (1918) sharpened his legend, and *The Tryout* (1919) sent him riding into the sunset of silent film. Ninety-eight adventurous circled the sun before he closed his eyes for good on 26 December 1961, far from his Virginia beginnings, in Tarzana, California.
