William Elmer

Biography

Council Bluffs, Iowa, greeted William Elmer’s first cry on 25 April 1869; Hollywood, California, stilled his last breath on 24 February 1945. Between those dates he strode across flickering nickelodeon screens, brand-carrying ranch hand in The Virginian, hard-bitten outpost drifter in The Squaw Man, and bullring rogue in Carmen—three 1914–1915 one-reel whirlwinds that still carry his echo.