Bobby Vernon
actor, director, writer
- Birth name:
- Sylvion de Jardin
- Born:
- 1897-03-09, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Died:
- 1939-06-28, Hollywood, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
1897: Chicago coughs up a baby with a sideways grin—Bobby Vernon—who trades school desks for the sawdust glow of vaudeville before the ink on his birth certificate dries. 1913: still lugging grease-paint in his veins, he slips in front of Lon Chaney’s camera for Almost an Actress; two reels later, the kid’s a born troublemaker on celluloid. Mack Sennett spots the spark, snaps him up, and pairs him with a teenage Gloria Swanson. Between 1916 and ’17 they crank out nine lightning-fast two-reelers, the crown jewel being Teddy at the Throttle—Wallace Beery (Gloria’s real-life groom) snarling in the background while Bobby and Gloria outrun trains and propriety. Talkies arrive; Vernon’s Brooklyn burr records cleanly enough for three quick features, then he tips his derby, exits stage left, and spends the next decades ghost-writing gags and tightening timing for W.C. Fields’ pool-table sarcasm and Bing Crosby’s easy croon—Paramount’s secret weapon behind the curtain.
