Elmer Clifton
actor, director, writer
- Born:
- 1890-03-14, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Died:
- 1949-10-15, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
Elmer Clifton's journey into cinema began on the theatrical stage in 1907. By 1913, he had joined the influential orbit of D.W. Griffith, a collaboration that spanned nearly a decade until 1922 and saw him contribute in various capacities, notably appearing in groundbreaking works like The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). He stepped into the director's chair in 1917, achieving his most celebrated success with the lavish whaling epic, Down to the Sea in Ships (1922), a film that not only showcased his directorial ambition but also served as the star-making vehicle for Clara Bow. However, the late 1920s marked a regrettable turn in Clifton's fortunes. Despite intermittent engagements with established studios such as Columbia or RKO, the bulk of his subsequent career unfolded far from the glitz of Hollywood's majors. He became a fixture in the gritty landscape of Poverty Row, diligently crafting quick-turnaround westerns and thrillers for studios like PRC, and delving even further into the realm of low-budget exploitation features for shoestring producers, including J.D. Kendis and the Weiss Brothers.
