William Humphrey
actor, director, writer
- Birth name:
- William Jonathan Humphrey
- Born:
- 1863-01-02, Chicopee Falls, Chicopee, Massachusetts, USA
- Died:
- 1942-10-04, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
The year 1875 opened with January snow in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, and on its second day delivered William Jonathan Humphrey—later known simply as William Humphrey—into a world that would soon flicker to life on silver screens. By 1909 he had stepped before the camera, and within twelve months he was calling the shots from the other side of it. Seven years on, he added words to pictures, scripting stories as readily as he framed them. Until 1922 he toggled between megaphone and typewriter, shaping silents in both roles. Meanwhile, his face kept showing up: 124 appearances between 1909 and 1937, a marathon of mimicry that spanned the medium’s rowdy adolescence. The final curtain fell on 4 October 1942, when coronary thrombosis wrote the last title card of his life.
