E
Ernest Shields
actor, director
- Born:
- 1884-08-05, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Died:
- 1944-12-13, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director
Biography
Chicago, 5 August 1884: a city of clanging streetcars and lake-fed winds delivered Ernest Shields into the world. By his early twenties he had swapped the Midwest’s blunt winters for the flicker of klieg lights, carving a name in nickelodeon-era dust. Between 1914 and 1929 he shaped three careers at once—grinning across the screen in Sheridan’s Pride, saluting the flag in The Birth of Patriotism, and gripping the throttle of The Greyhound Limited—while quietly calling the shots from the director’s chair. Off-set he shared his life with fellow performer Betty Schade. The cameras finally stopped rolling on 13 December 1944 in Los Angeles, where the Pacific tide carried him into history.
