Charles Swickard
actor, director, writer
- Born:
- 1861-03-21, Germany
- Died:
- 1929-05-12, Fresno, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
A Bavarian boy christened Karl on 21 March 1861 crossed the Atlantic, traded umlauts for Hollywood lights, and reinvented himself as Charles Swickard. Behind the camera he conjured dunes and swordplay for An Arabian Knight (1920), stitched gangland tension into Mixed Blood (1916), and let a prairie family teeter on The Last Straw (1920); in front of it he occasionally stepped into the frame himself. Off-set he answered to one name—Dale—his wife and favorite leading lady. The final curtain fell on 12 May 1929 in Fresno, California, but the reels he spun still crackle with silent-era electricity.
