Milton Sills
Age: 48 | From:
Person Details
Birthday: 1882-01-12 09:00:58
Death: 1930-09-15 09:00:58
Aliases: No known aliases
Gender: Male
Place of birth:
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 52
TV Involvements: 0
Most Famous Work
Biography
From Wikipedia Milton George Gustavus Sills (January 12, 1882 – September 15, 1930) was an American stage and film actor of the early twentieth century. Sills was born in Chicago, Illinois into a wealthy family. He was the son of William Henry Sills, a successful mineral dealer, and Josephine Antoinette Troost Sills, an heiress from a prosperous banking family. Upon completing high school, Sills was offered a one-year scholarship to the University of Chicago, where he studied psychology and philosophy. After graduating, he was offered a position at the university as a researcher and within several years worked his way up to become a professor at the school. In 1905, stage actor Donald Robertson visited the school to lecture on author and playwright Henrik Ibsen and suggested to Sills that he try his hand at acting. On a whim, Sills agreed and left his prestigious teaching career to embark on a stint in acting. Sills joined Robertson's stock theater company and began touring the country. In 1914, Sills decided to conquer the new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut the same year in the big-budget drama The Pit for the World Film Company and was signed to a contract with film producer William A. Brady. The film was enormously successful, and Sills made three more films for the company, including another huge box-office draw The Deep Purple opposite silent screen star Clara Kimball Young. By the late 1910s, Sills had reached leading man status and parted ways with World Film, taking the then unusual path of freelancing as an actor. By the early 1920s, Sills was enjoying a highly successful acting career and working for such prominent film studios as MGM, Paramount Pictures, and Pathé Exchange. He was often paired with the most popular leading ladies of the era, including: Geraldine Farrar, Gloria Swanson and Viola Dana. His greatest public and commercial successes came with the now lost Flaming Youth (1923) opposite Colleen Moore, and the enormous box-office hit The Sea Hawk (1924). Sills made two sound pictures, showing that he had an excellent voice. Many may have forgotten that Sills had extensive stage training before embarking on his career before the cameras. Sills died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1930 while playing tennis with his wife at his Santa Barbara, California home at the age of 48. He was interred at the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago, Illinois.
Most Famous Work
The Sea Hawk
(1924) Sir Oliver Tressilian
The Honor System
(1917) Joseph Stanton
The Yellow Ticket
(1918) Julian Rolfe
A Trip to Paramountown
(1922) Self
The Knockout
(1925) Sandy Donlin
Seeing Stars
(1922) Self
The Legend of Rudolph Valentino
(1961) Self (archive footage)
Patria
(1917) Capt. Donald ParrActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1930 | 'Wolf' Larsen | |
| Mac | ||
| 1929 | N/A | |
| N/A | ||
| 1928 | Jim Flannagan | |
| Nifty Miller | ||
| The Hawk/John Finchley | ||
| Elam 'Burning Daylight' Harnish | ||
| Self | ||
| 1927 | Bryce Cardigan | |
| Hard-Boiled Haggerty | ||
| Etienne Hilaire | ||
| Justin Ramos | ||
| 1926 | Count Pierre Tornal | |
| Tony | ||
| Jan Bokak | ||
| Nicola Riccobini | ||
| 1925 | Sandy Donlin | |
| O'Malley | ||
| Major John Craig | ||
| 1924 | Reverend John Morton | |
| Sir Oliver Tressilian | ||
| Calvin Gray | ||
| Gerald Mertoun, Duke of Osmonde | ||
| 1923 | Cary Scott | |
| Michael Ramsay | ||
| Roy Glennister | ||
| Will Campbell / George Brown | ||
| Himself - Celebrity Actor (uncredited) | ||
| Frank Howard | ||
| Rudolph Martin | ||
| Steve Cline | ||
| 1922 | Richard Jarnette | |
| Self | ||
| Bud Doyle | ||
| Self | ||
| Dr. Alan Hamilton | ||
| 1921 | Neil Cornish | |
| Bayard Delaval | ||
| Gordon Deane | ||
| Michaelis | ||
| 1920 | N/A | |
| Peter Devenant | ||
| 1919 | Louis Anthony | |
| Conrad | ||
| Luke Appleton | ||
| Juan Estudillo | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1918 | Sheriff Jack Webb | |
| Major Anthony Kinsella | ||
| Julian Rolfe | ||
| 1917 | Joseph Stanton | |
| Capt. Donald Parr | ||
| 1915 | N/A | |
| Burleigh Mavor | ||
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
Writing
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1926 | Writer | |
| 1925 | Writer | |
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
Editing
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 1925 | Editor | |
| Year | Role | Movie/Tv |