Al Christie
director, producer, writer
- Birth name:
- Alfred Ernest Christie
- Born:
- 1881-10-23, London, Ontario, Canada
- Died:
- 1951-04-14, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- director, producer, writer
Biography
In 1909 Al Christie walked onto the Nestor lot just as movies were learning to talk in captions; three years later he was corralling horses, cowboys, and camera crews for a slate of one-reel westerns. By 1916 he’d traded sagebrush for slapstick, launching Christie Comedies, a freewheeling outfit that cranked out brisk two-reelers and the occasional feature, all timed to the split-second rhythm of a laugh. His older brother Charles ran the business side, while Al mined giggles from custard pies and courtship. Ten years later a Florida highway shattered the merriment: a sedan carrying Christie, starlet Vera Steadman, and Marie Prevost’s mother flipped; H. Prevost died of a broken spine, while Al and Vera crawled away with nothing worse than skin and memories torn.
