Boyd Marshall

Boyd Marshall (June 22, 1884 – November 10, 1950) was an American actor of the stage and screen during the early decades of the 20th Century. Born in Ohio in 1884, he moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. He began on the stage and in vaudeville, before entering the film industry in 1913. He had a brief film career, lasting until 1917, before he returned to the stage.

Boyd Marshall
Born(1884-06-22)June 22, 1884
Port Clinton, Ohio, United States
DiedNovember 10, 1950(1950-11-10) (aged 66)
Queens, New York, United States
OccupationActor
Years active1905–30
Spouse(s)Mitzi Hajos (1920-1950, his death)

Early life

The son of Thomas J. and Agnes Marshall, Boyd Marshall was born on June 22, 1884 in Port Clinton, Ohio. His father was an attorney, but after his father's death in 1895 his mother moved to their large fruit farm outside Carroll, Ohio. It was there where he spent his teenage years.[1] He attended the University of Michigan before deciding to become as a performer. Initially, Marshall wanted a career in opera, and studied at both the University of Michigan School of Music and the Detroit Conservatory Of Music.[2][3]

Career

In 1905 Marshall appeared in the play Fantana, a musical at the Lyric Theatre in New York, which starred Douglas Fairbanks.[4][5] In 1908 and 1909 Marshall appeared in Jesse Lasky's production of A Night on a Houseboat at the Orpheum Theater in Allentown, Pennsylvania.[6][7] The show also toured other venues.[8] In 1909, Marshall joined the Kolb and Dill company on the west coast, performing at the Majestic Theater in Los Angeles,[9][10] as well as in San Francisco at the Princess Theater.[2][11] Other early credits for Marshall included leads in the comic opera Mlle. Modiste, written by Victor Herbert, as well as the musical, The Lady from Lane's.[9] He was also a favorite at the New York Hippodrome.[12]

In 1910, Marshall appeared in the musical, The Cash Girl.[13] Also in 1910 Marshall, along with Katharine Bell, toured in the vaudeville production The Wall Between, appearing at such locations as the Orpheum in Allentown, Pennsylvania,[14] as well as the Grand Theater in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[15] That same year he would again star with Bell in a vaudeville piece titled Art.[16] In 1911 and 1912 Marshall toured the country with a group of performers around the vaudeville circuit, in an act titled The Pianophiend Minstral Co. A Jesse Lasky production, the group performed throughout the United States at such venues as the Academy of Music in Washington, D.C., and the Orpheum Theater in Oakland, California.[17][18][19] The Pianophiends were selected to perform at a gala honoring William Randolph Hearst in San Francisco in August 1911.[20] In February 1913, Marshall was seen at the Hippodrome in New York in Gypsy Life.[21] In 1913, Marshall starred in the comedy, A Shotgun Cupid, in which he toured with Muriel Ostriche.[22] He also toured with Ostriche in The Little Church Around the Corner.[23]

In 1913 Marshall signed with the Thanhouser Company, one of the first film studios, where he was billed as the "handsomest man in the movies". He was paired with Muriel Ostriche to star in a number of film shorts. In their first year at Thanhouser, Marshall and Ostriche would star in almost 50 films together.[2] In his brief film career, which lasted only 5 years (1913-1917), he appeared on 100 films, the vast majority of them shorts.[24] Eight of those films would be features, including King Lear and The Vicar of Wakefield.[25] He left Thanhouser, and the film industry, in 1917.[2] His final picture was the feature, When Love Was Blind, which also starred Florence La Badie.[26]

After leaving film, Marshall returned to the stage, which included performances in a string of mostly successful Broadway shows between 1918 and 1930. He would appear in several of those plays with his wife, Mitzi Hajos, the Ziegfeld Follies star, whom he married in 1920.[27] His final Broadway appearance would be in 1930's Sari,[28] which also toured the country after its short Broadway run.[29][30][31]

In 1932, he would appear as a co-star alongside Katharine Hepburn in The Bride the Sun Shines On at the Croton River Playhouse, in Harmon-on-Hudson (now Croton-on-Hudson), New York.[32] 1935 saw Marshall featured in a play titled Cross Ruff, by Noel Taylor, which played at the Masque Theater.[33]

Personal life

Marshall met his wife in his first Broadway production after leaving films, Head Over Heels in 1918. The two were married on May 21, 1920 in White Plains, New York.[34] The two remained married until his death on November 10, 1950.[35] He was buried in the family plot in Lakeview Cemetery, in his hometown of Port Clinton, Ohio.[36] On her death 20 years later, Hajos would be buried next to her husband.[35]

References

  1. "Marshall Weds Famous Actress". The Sandusky Star-Journal. May 27, 1920. p. 11. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Marshall, Boyd". Thanhouser Organization. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  3. "Boyd Marshall Biography". imdb.com. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  4. "Port Clinton". The Sandusky Star-Journal. August 9, 1905. p. 2. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Fantana". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  6. "A Night on a Houseboat". The Scranton Truth. January 4, 1908. p. 8. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Fine Entertainment at the Orpheum". The Allentown Leader. February 16, 1909. p. 1. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  8. "O'Malley-Jennings with "A Night on a Houseboat"". The Pittsburgh Sunday Post. December 29, 1907. Part 6, p. 6. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Hartford Succeeds Gilbert Gardner at Burbank Theater". Los Angeles Herald. August 30, 1909. p. 12. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Kolb and Dill Merry as Ever". Los Angeles Herald. September 6, 1909. p. 12. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Kolb and Dill Rehearsing". The San Francisco Call. August 22, 1909. p. 27. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Gossip Gleaned in the Studios". El Paso Herald. November 29, 1913. p. 19. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  13. "The Cash Girl". The Allentown Democrat. January 19, 1910. p. 3. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  14. "At the Orpheum". The Allentown Leader. October 21, 1910. p. 1. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Grand-Eva Tanguay in Vaudeville". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh. November 29, 1910. p. 1. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  16. "The Orpheum". Reading Times. May 22, 1911. p. 4. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Orpheum Headliner". San Francisco Chronicle. August 17, 1911. p. 5. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  18. "At the Theaters Last Night". The Washington Post. April 30, 1912. p. 4. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Hysterical Audiences Greet Orpheum Acts". Oakland Tribune. September 8, 1911. p. 18. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Andy Lawrence is Feted by Exposition Directors". Oakland Tribune. August 30, 1911. p. 4. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  21. "'Gypsy Life at Hippodrome'". The New York Times. February 4, 2013. p. 5. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  22. "Star Theatre Tonight". The Evening Herald. Ottawa, KS. December 18, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Smith's Theatre". Hamilton Evening Journal. Hamilton, OH. December 11, 1913. p. 1. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  24. "Boyd Marshall". imdb.com. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  25. "Boyd Marshall". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  26. "When Love Was Blind". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  27. "Boyd Marshall". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  28. "Sari". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  29. ""Sari" is to Be Seen at Dayton". The Piqua Daily Call. March 29, 1930. p. 4. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  30. "Mitzi's Next Show". The Sandusky Register. January 12, 1930. p. 9. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  31. "Incomparable Mitzi in "Sari"". Indiana Evening Gazette. Indiana, PA. February 22, 1930. p. 3. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  32. "Plays and Players". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 28, 1932. p. 12. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  33. "The New Plays". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. February 17, 1935. p. 2C. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  34. "Incomparable Mitzi in "Sari"". The Sun and the New York Herald. May 22, 1920. p. 9. Retrieved May 5, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  35. "Mitzi Hajos". Find a Grave. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  36. "Boyd Marshall". Find a Grave. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.