Charles Kent
actor, director, writer
- Born:
- 1852-06-18, London, England, UK
- Died:
- 1923-05-21, Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
Charles Kent spent three decades commanding the boards of London and New York before stepping before a Vitagraph camera in 1908 to conjure Shakespeare’s Macbeth on flickering celluloid. Actor, adaptor, and soon chief director, he shepherded the studio’s prestige projects—often casting himself in the bargain—while pioneering the tight, intimate close-up that scandalized reviewers raised on proscenium distance. After five restless years behind the lens he surrendered the megaphone in 1913, yet kept slipping into character parts until the final reel of his life.
