James Kirkwood
actor, director, writer
- Birth name:
- James Cornelius Kirkwood
- Born:
- 1875-02-22, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
- Died:
- 1963-08-24, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Professions:
- actor, director, writer
Biography
James Kirkwood slipped in front of a camera in 1909 and, almost overnight, became one of D.W. Griffith’s go-to leading men. Three years later he swapped marquee billing for a megaphone, and by 1914 Mary Pickford had claimed him as her personal director; together they churned out nine features, with Kirkwood still stepping before the lens for three of them. For a moment he ranked among the industry’s top helmers, but the offers thinned, and by 1920 the director’s chair had vanished from under him. Kirkwood simply returned to acting, keeping his name in play right up to the mid-1950s.
