P
Pierce Kingsley
director, miscellaneous, writer
- Birth name:
- Pierre Ransom Kingsley
- Born:
- 1872-06-05, Alma, Michigan, USA
- Died:
- 1936-06-26, near East Alton, Illinois, USA
- Professions:
- director, miscellaneous, writer
Biography
Alma, Michigan, greeted the sunrise of 5 June 1872 by welcoming Pierce Kingsley into the world, and from that modest Midwestern cradle he would grow into a silent-era storyteller who bent light and shadow to his will. Between 1914 and 1915 he shaped three one-reel landmarks—The House of Bondage, After the Ball and Silver Threads Among the Gold—writing and directing each frame that flickered across nickelodeon screens. Off-set he shared his life with Gladys May “Minnie” Nastelske, the woman who held the reel to his heart. Sixty-four summers later, on 26 June 1936, Kingsley’s own final scene rolled near East Alton, Illinois, where the projector of life dimmed for good.
