William V. Mong
actor, director, writer
- Born:
- 1875-06-25, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, USA
- Died:
- 1940-12-11, Studio City, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
A stage-struck Pennsylvania boy, born in Chambersburg on 25 June 1875, William V. Mong slipped into the flickering new world of movies almost as soon as celluloid began to roll. Between 1911 and 1917 he anchored three of the era’s wildest adventures—braving polar winds in *Lost in the Arctic*, slugging it out in *Fighting Joe*, and walking biblical roads in *The Chosen Prince, or the Friendship of David and Jonathan*. Off-camera he wrote stories as swiftly as he acted them, and collected three distinct wedding rings: first from Esme Isabel Haigh Warde, later from Mildred Ellen Payne, and finally from Marie Louise Kelley. The final curtain fell on 11 December 1940, in Studio City, California, but the nitrate reels still keep Mong’s restless energy alive.
