Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian-born American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter.
Wilfred Lucas made his Broadway debut in 1904, playing in both the The Blue Grass Handicap and The Superstition of Sue. Following his 1906 role in the highly successful play The Chorus Lady, he was recruited to the fledgling Biograph Studios by D. W. Griffith.
At the time, the film business was still looked down upon by many members of the theatrical community. In her 1925 book titled When the Movies Were Young, Griffith's wife, actress Linda Arvidson, told the story of the early days at Biograph Studios. In it, she referred to Lucas as the "first real grand actor, democratic enough to work in Biograph movies." In 1908 Lucas made his motion picture debut in Griffith's The Greaser's Gauntlet, appearing in more than 50 of these short (usually 17 minutes) films over the next two years.
In 1910 while still acting, he wrote the script for Griffith's film Sunshine Sue, which was followed by many more scripts by 1924. Lucas also began directing in 1912 with Griffith on An Outcast Among Outcasts, and directed another 44 films over the next 20 years.
In early 1916 he starred as John Carter in Acquitted, about which Photoplay wrote, "No single performance in the records of active photography has surpassed his visualization of the humble book-keeper in Acquitted." Later in 1916 he appeared in D.W. Griffith's film Intolerance.
Part of the group of Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, Lucas became friends and sometimes starred with Mary Pickford, Sam De Grasse, and Marie Dressler. Canadian-born director Mack Sennett hired him to both direct and act in a large number of films at his Keystone Studios.
Lucas made the successful transition from silent film to sound. While working in Hollywood, in 1926 he returned to the stage, performing in several Broadway plays. He later appeared as a foil for Laurel and Hardy in their feature films Pardon Us and A Chump at Oxford.
During his long career, Wilfred Lucas appeared in more than 375 films. Although for a time he was cast in leading roles, he became very successful as secondary and minor characters, making a good living in the film industry for more than three decades.
Filmography (276 Appearances)
The Nest
The Best of Laurel and Hardy
The Sea Wolf
Santa Fe Trail
A Dispatch from Reuters
Triple Justice
They Drive by Night
Women in Hiding
Brother Orchid
Waterloo Bridge
Edison, the Man
Tear Gas Squad
Virginia City
Women Without Names
The Fighting 69th
A Chump at Oxford
Legion of the Lawless
Four Wives
Nick Carter, Master Detective
Raffles
The Marshal Of Mesa City
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Day the Bookies Wept
Each Dawn I Die
Zenobia
Women in the Wind
Dodge City
Almost a Gentleman
Breakdowns of 1938
The Declaration of Independence
Brother Rat
A Man to Remember
Down on the Farm
Freshman Year
Four Daughters
Safety in Numbers
Over the Wall
Night Spot
The Baroness and the Butler
The Daredevil Drivers
She Loved a Fireman
Missing Witnesses
The Man Without a Country
Navy Blue and Gold
The Westland Case
Idol of the Crowds
Hot Water
Prairie Thunder
Varsity Show
Talent Scout
Empty Holsters
Blazing Sixes
Marked Woman
Mile a Minute Love
Land Beyond the Law
The Super Snooper
Black Legion
Criminal Lawyer
We Who Are About to Die
Beloved Enemy
Give Me Liberty
Midnight Blunders
California Mail
High Tension
The Devil-Doll
The White Angel
Human Cargo
The Country Doctor
Love on a Bet
The Preview Murder Mystery
The Prisoner of Shark Island
Modern Times
Chatterbox
Show Them No Mercy!
Kind Lady
Frisco Kid
Rip Roaring Riley
Stormy
Stranded
The Arizonian
Vagabond Lady
Les Misérables
Naughty Marietta
Angkor
Chandu on the Magic Island
Shrimps for a Day
Love Time
Cleopatra
The Return of Chandu
The Dragon Murder Case
One Night of Love
Upperworld
Apples to You!
The Moth
Air Fright
The House on 56th Street
Advice to the Lovelorn
Mary Stevens, M.D.
Midnight Mary
The Mayor of Hell
Strange People
The Sphinx
I Cover the Waterfront
The Devil's Brother
The Big Cage
The Three Musketeers
The Intruder
Phantom Thunderbolt
Racetrack
Sister to Judas
Lawyer Man
The Secrets of Wu Sin
You Said a Mouthful
Lucky Larrigan
The Unwritten Law
Call Her Savage
The Devil Horse
Free Wheeling
Big City Blues
Devil and the Deep
What Price Hollywood?
The Dark Horse
Stockholm ”Queen of the Baltic”
The Midnight Patrol
Careless Lady
Red Noses
Cross-Examination
The Tabasco Kid
House of Mystery
Rich Man's Folly
The Phantom
Convicted
The Age for Love
Graft
The Galloping Ghost
Big Ears
Pardon Us
Stranger in Town
Homicide Squad
Young Donovan's Kid
Dishonored
Men Call It Love
Millie
Just Imagine
Looser Than Loose
Love Your Neighbor
Madam Satan
Those Who Dance
Cock o' the Walk
The Arizona Kid
Hello Sister
Burnt Fingers
The Sorrows of Satan
Her Sacrifice
Cyclone Cavalier
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted
How Baxter Butted In
The Bad Lands
Youth's Gamble
The Snob Buster
A Broadway Butterfly
Riders of the Purple Sage
As No Man Has Loved
Lightning Romance
The Price She Paid
The Fatal Mistake
Racing for Life
Passion's Pathway
The Fighting Sap
Valley of Hate
The Valley of Hate
Daughters of Pleasure
Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall
North of Nevada
The Mask of Lopez
Trilby
The Greatest Menace
The Girl of the Golden West
Can a Woman Love Twice?
Jazzmania
Heroes of the Street
The Kentucky Derby
Paid Back
Flesh and Blood
Across the Dead-Line
The Beautiful Liar
The Fighting Breed
One a Minute
Through the Back Door
The Breaking Point
The Jackeroo of Coolabong
The Shadow of Lightning Ridge
The Man from Kangaroo
Soldiers of Fortune
A Woman of Pleasure
The Girl from Nowhere
The Westerners
The Hushed Hour
What Every Woman Wants
The Judgment House
The Co-respondent
Sins of Ambition
Souls Triumphant
Hands Up!
A Love Sublime
Jim Bludso
The Microscope Mystery
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Hell-to-Pay Austin
A Wild Girl of the Sierras
Macbeth
Acquitted
The Wood Nymph
The Lily and the Rose
The Spanish Jade
Brute Force
Gentleman Burglar
A Tender-Hearted Crook
Pure Gold and Dross
The Widow and the Widower
The Massacre
A Sailor’s Heart
A Pueblo Legend
Man's Genesis
A Temporary Truce
Home Folks
When Kings Were the Law
Just Like a Woman
Fate's Interception
The Girl and Her Trust
The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch
Under Burning Skies
Billy's Stratagem
The Transformation of Mike
A Terrible Discovery
The Failure
A Woman Scorned
The Miser's Heart
Love in the Hills
The Long Road
The Making of a Man
Swords and Hearts
The Rose of Kentucky
The Blind Princess and the Poet
The Sorrowful Example
The Indian Brothers
The Thief and the Girl
Fighting Blood
The Primal Call
Enoch Arden
Enoch Arden: Part II
Enoch Arden: Part I
The New Dress
Madame Rex
The Broken Cross
The Spanish Gypsy
The Lonedale Operator
His Daughter
The Diamond Star
Fisher Folks
What Shall We Do with Our Old?
Heart Beats of Long Ago
His Trust Fulfilled
His Trust
When a Man Loves
The Two Paths
Winning Back His Love
The Rocky Road
1776, or The Hessian Renegades
A Strange Meeting
The Renunciation
The Girls and Daddy
The Honor of Thieves
The Taming of the Shrew
The Girl and the Outlaw
The Greaser's Gauntlet