John Gilbert (July 10, 1899 – January 9, 1936) was
an American actor and a major star of the
silent film era.
Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even
Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw.
Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an
actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to
talkies, his decline as a star in fact had to do
with studio politics and money and not the sound of his screen
voice. According to the actress
Eleanor
Boardman and others, a fight between
Louis B. Mayer
and Gilbert erupted at what was to be his marriage to
Greta Garbo, for which she failed to turn up,
when Mayer made a snide remark. Gilbert promptly knocked his boss
down, for which Mayer swore he'd get even. Gilbert's daughter has
alleged that Mayer then proceeded to sabotage the recording of his
voice by increasing the treble; giving direction of his films to an
inexperienced director who was on narcotic pain medication;
refusing him good scripts, such as 1930's
The Dawn Patrol which directors wanted
to star him in; and editing his projects to ruin his films.
Life and career
Born
John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah
to stock company actor parents, he struggled
through a childhood of abuse and neglect before moving to Hollywood
as a teenager. He first found work as an
extra with the
Thomas Ince Studios, and
soon became a favorite of
Maurice
Tourneur, who also hired him to write and direct several
pictures. He quickly rose through the ranks, building his
reputation as an actor in such films as
Heart o' the Hills
with
Mary Pickford. In 1921, Gilbert
signed a three year contract with
Fox Film Corporation, where he was cast
as a romantic
leading man. Some of his
films for Fox include
Monte Cristo, an adaptation of
The Count of Monte
Cristo;
St. Elmo, an adaptation of a popular book
of the period;
The Wolf
Man, not a horror film, the story of a man who believes he
murdered his fiancee's brother while drunk and many others. At the
time, Gilbert did not sport his famous mustache, which made his
features more uneven and a little less handsome, and Fox plainly
did not realize what huge potential he had.
In 1924, he moved to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he became a
full-fledged star with such high-profile films as
His Hour
directed by
King Vidor and written by
Elinor Glyn;
He Who Gets Slapped (1924),
co-starring
Lon Chaney, Sr. and
Norma Shearer, and directed by
Victor Sjöström; and
The Merry Widow
(1925) directed by
Erich von
Stroheim and co-starring
Mae Murray.
In 1925, Gilbert was once again directed by Vidor in the war epic
The Big Parade, which became
the second highest grossing silent film. His performance in this
film made him a major star. The following year, Vidor reunited
Gilbert with two of his co-stars from that picture,
Renée Adorée and
Karl Dane, for the film
La Bohème which also starred
Lillian Gish.
Gilbert married the successful film actress
Leatrice Joy in 1922. The union produced a
daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain, but the tempestuous marriage
only lasted two years. The couple divorced in 1924, with Joy
charging that Gilbert was a compulsive
philanderer.
In 1926, Gilbert made
Flesh and
the Devil, his first film with
Greta Garbo. They soon began a very public
relationship, much to the delight of their fans. Gilbert planned to
marry her, but Garbo changed her mind and never showed up for the
ceremony. Despite their rocky off-screen relationship, they
continued to generate box-office revenue for the studio, and MGM
paired them in two more silents
Love (1927), a modern adaptation of
Anna Karenina, and
A
Woman of Affairs (1928). The former film was slyly advertised
by MGM as "Garbo and Gilbert in
Love."
Career decline
Throughout his time at MGM, Gilbert frequently clashed with studio
head
Louis B. Mayer over creative, social and financial
matters. One crucial event occurred on
September 8,
1926. While
guests were waiting for Garbo to show up for a proposed double
wedding ceremony - Garbo and Gilbert with the director
King Vidor and his fiancee, actress
Eleanor Boardman - Mayer allegedly made a
crude remark about Garbo to the distraught Gilbert that caused him
to fly into a rage and he physically attacked the mogul. Rumor had
it that after that event, Gilbert's career began its downward
slide. This story has been disputed by some historians, despite its
having been reported over a period of twenty years by one major
eyewitness, the other bride, Eleanor Boardman who described Mayer's
final look at Gilbert as "terrifying". Gilbert did have a powerful
supporter in production head
Irving
Thalberg. The two were old friends and Thalberg made efforts to
reinvigorate Gilbert's career, but Thalberg's failing health
probably limited such efforts.
With the coming of sound, Gilbert first spoke in the film
His Glorious Night, in
which his voice allegedly recorded in a high-pitched tone that made
audiences giggle. He spoke again in the all-talking musical
Hollywood Revue of
1929, appearing in a Romeo and Juliet
Technicolor sequence along with
Norma Shearer in which they first played the
part straight and then modernized it. Reviewers for the film did
not note any problems with Gilbert's voice at this time and, in
fact, some praised it. A documentary,
The Dawn of Sound: How
the Movies Learned to Talk (2007), demonstrates that with
improved recording equipment Gilbert's voice was suitably
deep.
According to film reviews of the day, audiences actually laughed at
Gilbert's overly ardent love-making in
His Glorious Night.
In one scene, Gilbert keeps kissing his leading lady (
Catherine Dale Owen) while saying over
and over again "I love you". This scene was famously later parodied
in the MGM musical
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
where a preview of the fictional
The Dueling Cavalier
flops disastrously. Director
King Vidor
stated that
Rudolph Valentino,
Gilbert's main rival in the 1920s for romantic leads, probably
would have suffered the same fate in the talkie era, had he
lived.
His Glorious Night has never been shown on television by
Turner Entertainment because
MGM sold the rights to
Paramount
for a remake, and
Universal -
which owns the rights to all pre-1948 Paramount films - has not
done anything with it. He appeared in 1931's
The Phantom of
Paris, a project designed for
Lon
Chaney to star in until his death from cancer in 1930.
In 1932
MGM made the film
Downstairs from Gilbert's original
story, in which Gilbert played against type as a scheming,
blackmailing chauffeur. The film was well received by critics, but
did nothing to restore Gilbert's popularity. Shortly after making
the film he married co-star
Virginia
Bruce; the couple divorced in 1934.
Gilbert starred opposite Garbo for the last time in
Queen Christina directed by
Rouben Mamoulian. Garbo was
top-billed and Gilbert's name beneath the title. The picture failed
to revive his career, with his next film,
The Captain Hates the Sea,
being his last.
Death
By 1934,
alcoholism had severely damaged
his health, and he died of a
heart
attack without ever regaining his former reputation. Towards
the end of his life, Gilbert became involved with
Marlene Dietrich, and at the time of his
death he was
slated to star opposite her in the film
Desire.
On his
passing in 1936, at the age of 36, John Gilbert was interred in the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Cemetery
in Glendale, California
.
Personal
Gilbert was married four times (including once to film and stage
actress
Ina Claire), and had two
daughters. His daughter Leatrice Gilbert Fountain (from his
marriage to silent film actress
Leatrice
Joy), wrote an acclaimed biography of her father's life
published in 1985, and continues as a source of information on his
life and career.
Gilbert
has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
at 1755 Vine Street and in 1994, he was honoured
with his image on a United States
postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
Selected filmography
References
- Bangley, Jimmy (1999). “Interview with Leatrice Gilbert Fountain.”.
Retrieved May 6, 2005.
- DeBartolo, John (2001). “Man, Woman and Sin.” Retrieved May 6,
2005.
- Fountain, Leatrice Gilbert (1985). Dark Star: the untold story
of the meteoric rise and fall of legendary silent screen star John
Gilbert. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-18275-9.
- Golden Silents (2004). “John Gilbert, Silent and Sound Film Star, Actor,
Director, Writer.” Retrieved May 5, 2005.
- Lussier, Tim (2002). “Merry Widow” commentary. Retrieved May 6,
2005.
- Marowitz, Charles (May 2001). “Silent Writes.” Written By.
- Silents Are Golden (2005). Cossacks, Flesh and the Devil, He
Who Gets Slapped, His Hour, La Bohème, Love, Merry Widow, Show,
Twelve Miles Out, Woman of Affairs. In “Vintage Reviews.” Retrieved May 6, 2005.
- Thompson, Dean (2004). “Woman of Affairs” Commentary. Retrieved May 6,
2005.
- Brownlow, Kevin The Parade's Gone By, Crown
Publishers, Inc., New York, 1968
- Fountain, Leatrice Gilbert: Dark Star, St. Martin's Press, New
York, NY 1985
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