- Born Name: Richard Semler Barthelmess
- Birthday: 1895-05-09 (Year-Month-Day)
- Website:
- Spouse(s): Mary Hay (1920-1927) 1 daughter Jessica Stewart Sargent (1928-1963)
- Children:
- Medium: Actor
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Richard Barthelmess, Richard Dick Semler Barthelmess (May 9, 1895 – August 17, 1963) was an Oscar-nominated silent film star.The son of an actress, Barthelmess was educated at Hudson River Military Academy at Nyack and Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut. His father died when he was a baby and his mother, Caroline Harris, earned her living on stage, so he worked in theatres in his early days, between schooling, doing walk-ons. This led to acting in college, doing amateur productions. Russian actress Alla Nazimova, a friend of the family, had been taught English by Barthelmesss mother. Nazimova in return convinced Barthelmess to try acting professionally and he made his first film appearance in 1916 in the serial Glorias Romance as an extra. He also at this time appeared as a supporting player in several films starring Marguerite Clark. His next role, in War Brides opposite Alla Nazimova, attracted the attention of legendary director D. W. Griffith, who offered him several important roles, finally casting him opposite Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920).Richard Barthelmess in Broken BlossomsIn the coming years, he was one of Hollywoods highest paid performers, starring in such classics as The Patent Leather Kid (1927) and The Noose (1928); he was nominated for Best Actor at the first Academy Awards for his performance in both these films, and he won a Special Citation for producing The Patent Leather Kid. He also founded his own production company, Inspiration Film Company, together with Charles Duell and Henry King. One of their films, Tolable David (1921), in which Barthelmess starred as a teenage mailman who finds courage, was a major success, and is considered by many to be his finest performance.With the advent of the sound era, Barthelmess fortunes changed. He made several films in the new medium, most notably Son of the Gods (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), The Last Flight (1931), and The Cabin in the Cotton (1932), Central Airport (1933), and a supporting role as Rita Hayworths characters husband in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). However, he failed to maintain the stardom of his silent film days and gradually left entertainment. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in World War II, served as a lieutenant commander, and never returned to film, preferring instead to live off his investments. He died of cancer in 1963 and was interred at the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York, USA.He and first wife, stage and screen star Mary Hay, had one daughter Mary Barthelmess.Barthelmess was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.For his contribution as an actor, Richard Barthelmess was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[edit] FilmographyFeatures:Glorias Romance (1916)War Brides (1916)Snow White (1916)Just a Song at Twilight (1916)The Moral Code (1917)The Eternal Sin (1917)The Valentine Girl (1917)The Soul of a Magdalen (1917)The Streets of Illusion (1917)Camille (1917)Babs Diary (1917)Babs Burglar (1917)Nearly Married (1917)For Valour (1917)The Seven Swans (1917)Sunshine Nan (1918)Rich Man, Poor Man (1918)Hit-the-Trail Holliday (1918)Wild Primrose (1918)The Hope Chest (1918)Boots (1918)The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919)Three Men and a Girl (1919)Peppy Polly (1919)Broken Blossoms (1919)Ill Get Him Yet (1919)Scarlet Days (1919)The Idol Dancer (1920)The Love Flower (1920)Way Down East (1920)Experience (1921)Tolable David (1921)The Seventh Day (1922)Sonny (1922)The Bond Boy (1922)Fury (1923)The Bright Shawl (1923)The Fighting Blade (1923)Twenty-One (1923)The Enchanted Cottage (1924)Classmates (1924)New Toys (1925)Soul-Fire (1925)Shore Leave (1925)The Beautiful City (1925)Just Suppose (1926)Ransons Folly (1926)The Amateur Gentleman (1926)The White Black Sheep (1926)The Patent Leather Kid (1927)The Drop Kick (1927)The Noose (1928)The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1928)Wheel of Chance (1928)Out of the Ruins (1928)Scarlet Seas (1928)Weary River (1929)Drag (1929)Young Nowheres (1929)The Show of Shows (1929)Son of the Gods (1930)The Dawn Patrol (1930)The Lash (1930)The Finger Points (1931)The Last Flight (1931)Alias the Doctor (1932)The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)Central Airport (1933)Heroes for Sale (1933)Massacre (1934)A Modern Hero (1934)Midnight Alibi (1934)Four Hours to Kill! (1935)Spy of Napoleon (1936)Only Angels Have Wings (1939)The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940)The Spoilers (1942)The Mayor of 44th Street (1942)Short Subjects:Camille (1926) (home movie by cariacaturist Ralph Barton)The Stolen Jools (1931)How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 1: The Putter (1931)Starlit Days at the Lido (1935)Meet the Stars #5: Hollywood Meets the Navy (1941)[edit] References^ Caroline Harris ; IBDb.com database^ A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen by Daniel Blum c.1953 page 111^ Richard Barthelmess and his wife, daughter and mother; at IBDb.comThe First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era by David W. Menefee.Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures by David W. Menefee[edit] External linksBiography portalRichard Barthelmess at the Internet Movie DatabaseRichard Barthelmess at AllmovieRichard Barthelmess at the Internet Broadway DatabasePhotographs of Richard BarthelmessRichard Barthelmess at Find a GravePersondataNameBarthelmess, RichardAlternative namesBarthelmess, Richard SemlerShort descriptionFilm actorDate of birth1895-05-09Place of birthNew York City, New York, U.S.Date of death1963-08-17Place of deathSouthampton, New York, U.S.Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_BarthelmessCategories: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founders | American film actors | American silent film actors | Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery | Deaths from esophageal cancer | Cancer deaths in New York | 1895 births | 1963 deathsHidden categories: Articles with hCardsPersonal toolsLog in / create accountNamespacesArticleDiscussionVariantsViewsReadEditView historyActionsSearchNavigationMain pageContentsFeatured contentCurrent eventsRandom articleDonate to WikipediaInteractionHelpAbout WikipediaCommunity portalRecent changesContact WikipediaToolboxWhat links hereRelated changesUpload fileSpecial pagesPermanent linkCite this pagePrint/exportCreate a bookDownload as PDFPrintable versionLanguagesAragonésAsturianuDeutschEspañolFrançaisItalianoNorsk (bokmål)РусскийSvenska This page was last modified on 25 February 2011 at 18:54.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;additional terms may apply.See Terms of Use for details.Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact usPrivacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersif ( window.mediaWiki ) {mediaWiki.config.set({wgCanonicalNamespace: , wgCanonicalSpecialPageName: false, wgNamespaceNumber: 0, wgPageName: Richard_Barthelmess, wgTitle: Richard Barthelmess, wgAction: view, wgArticleId: 45352, wgIsArticle: true, wgUserName: null, wgUserGroups: [*], wgCurRevisionId: 415906923, wgCategories: [Articles with hCards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founders, American film actors, American silent film actors, Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery, Deaths from esophageal cancer, Cancer deaths in New York, 1895 births, 1963 deaths], wgBreakFrames: false, wgRestrictionEdit: [], wgRestrictionMove: [], wgSearchNamespaces: [0], wgFlaggedRevsParams: {tags: {status: {levels: 1, quality: 2, pristine: 3}}}, wgStableRevisionId: null, wgRevContents: {error: Unable to get content., waiting: Waiting for content}, wgWikimediaMobileUrl: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki, wgCollapsibleNavBucketTest: false, wgCollapsibleNavForceNewVersion: false, wgArticleAssessmentJUIPath: http://bits.wikimedia.org/w/extensions-1.17/UsabilityInitiative/js/js2stopgap/jui.combined.min.js, Geo: {city: , country: }, wgNoticeProject: wikipedia});}if ( window.mediaWiki ) {mediaWiki.loader.load([mediawiki.legacy.wikibits, mediawiki.util, mediawiki.legacy.ajax, mediawiki.legacy.mwsuggest, ext.vector.collapsibleNav, ext.vector.collapsibleTabs, ext.vector.editWarning, ext.vector.simpleSearch]);mediaWiki.loader.go();}if ( window.mediaWiki ) {mediaWiki.user.options.set({ccmeonemails:0,cols:80,contextchars:50,contextlines:5,date:default,diffonly:0,disablemail:0,disablesuggest:0,editfont:default,editondblclick:0,editsection:1,editsectiononrightclick:0,enotifminoredits:0,enotifrevealaddr:0,enotifusertalkpages:1,enotifwatchlistpages:0,extendwatchlist:0,externaldiff:0,externaleditor:0,fancysig:0,forceeditsummary:0,gender:unknown,hideminor:0,hidepatrolled:0,highlightbroken:1,imagesize:2,justify:0,math:1,minordefault:0,newpageshidepatrolled:0,nocache:0,noconvertlink:0,norollbackdiff:0,numberheadings:0,previewonfirst:0,previewontop:1,quickbar:1,rcdays:7,rclimit:50,rememberpassword:0,rows:25,searchlimit:20,showhiddencats:0,showjumplinks:1,shownumberswatching:1,showtoc:1,showtoolbar:1,skin:vector,stubthreshold:0,thumbsize:4,underline:2,uselivepreview:0,usenewrc:0,watchcreations:1,watchdefault:0,watchdeletion:0,watchlistdays:3,watchlisthideanons:0,watchlisthidebots:0,watchlisthideliu:0,watchlisthideminor:0,watchlisthideown:0,watchlisthidepatrolled:0,watchmoves:0,wllimit:250,flaggedrevssimpleui:1,flaggedrevsstable:false,flaggedrevseditdiffs:true,flaggedrevsviewdiffs:false,vector-simplesearch:1,useeditwarning:1,vector-collapsiblenav:1,usebetatoolbar:1,usebetatoolbar-cgd:1,variant:en,language:en,searchNs0:true,searchNs1:false,searchNs2:false,searchNs3:false,searchNs4:false,searchNs5:false,searchNs6:false,searchNs7:false,searchNs8:false,searchNs9:false,searchNs10:false,searchNs11:false,searchNs12:false,searchNs13:false,searchNs14:false,searchNs15:false,searchNs100:false,searchNs101:false,searchNs108:false,searchNs109:false});mediaWiki.loader.state({user.options:ready});/* cache key: enwiki:resourceloader:filter:minify-js:3:ae2156c08a06314b12473d37e57711e2 */} if ( window.isMSIE55 ) fixalpha();