I was watching the Artist yesterday and it got me wondering.
Who would have been the most famous silent era actor that made the most impact as an actor in the ‘talkies’ era? I know its subjective, as I can’t really define ‘famous’ in either era.
I think Charlie Chaplin would be my choice, but I didn’t think he was exceptionally popular in talking films.
W.C. Fields? Mae West?
Probably Greta Garbo: her husky voice worked well with the rudimentary sound equipment of the day, and she became even more popular when the transition occurred.
Wallace Beery had a pretty good early run in the age of sound, but it didn’t last and he never achieved Garbo/Chaplin levels of fame in the first place.
Some comedians need to be considered.
Harold Lloyd was the #3 comedian in silents and transitioned well into Talkies unlike his rivals.
Laurel & Hardy also transitioned strongly.
John Barrymore was big before and after the transition and on stage of course.
Greta Garbo is an excellent suggestion. A big star on both sides of the silent/sound divide.
I watched a Laurel and Hardy silent film just yesterday!
Double Whoopee - Laurel and Hardy are arriving for their new jobs at a hotel where a foreign Prince and the country’s Prime Minister are expected to be arriving as guests. At first when Laurel and Hardy enter they are mistaken to be the guests by the staff already working at the hotel until the real Prince and Prime Minister show up a few minutes later. Not a good start to a job.
It was quite entertaining and the music that played throughout was appropriate for the silliness of it all. I have seen some other silent movies from the pair and if they never made any talking movies I think they would still be legends of the comedy genre. But the talking movies took them to another level.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., while not a huge star had success in both eras. He had a starring role in “Stella Dallas” (1925) and other well-received silent movies, then went on to big roles in the talk era in things like “Gunga Din” and “The Prisoner of Zenda”.
He belongs on the select list of children of famous actors who became prominent actors themselves.
Charlie Chaplin was so famous that the end of his silent movies could not change that. However, I think his fame is mainly from his silent movies. The Dictator is his only sound movie that I think is held in the same esteem as his silent movies. He is, I think, the most famous silent film star to maintain his fame throughout his entire life.
His performance as Sinbad in the 1947 movie of Sinbad the Sailor was very fun to watch. It’s overall a really enjoyable adventure and he starred alongside Maureen O’Hara who was a fiery beauty.
Ronald Colman was a sex symbol in silent films, and his rather unique voice and phrasing kept him in that spot in the talkies, well into the forties, when he seamlessly transitioned into middle-aged father figures. He could play anything from a wastrel drunken lawyer (Tale of Two Cities) to a very upright supreme court justice (Talk of the Town) and could hold his own with Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in getting the girl. He is largely forgotten today, and I think virtually unknown to anyone under 50, which is too bad.
Indeed, Buster Keaton’s career took a nosedive when he transitioned to talkies. Thankfully, he regained a measure of fame later in life, primarily with TV, commercials, and some film.
It’s a shame all of the Big 3 silent movie comedians (Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton) didn’t maintain their silent era fame. They were exceptionally talented and honed their craft to the highest degree.
Both Myrna Loy and William Powell had sizable careers in silent films, although they weren’t superstars until their joint film roles in talkies.
But I’d nominate Janet Gaynor. She was a leading box office star from the late 20s through the middle 30s. She won an Oscar for her silent work and was nominated for 1937’s A Star Is Born. Gaynor didn’t have as long a career as some, but her peak years spanned the transition period.
I think Chaplin maintained his fame, just not his success in movies(again, Dictator is an exception).
I don’t really know why Buster Keaton didn’t remain successful.
Because the Great Stone Face was ideally suited to silent comedy. Comedy is very tricky and ephemeral; what is funny in a silent setting may not work in an audio setting, just like what is funny on stage doesn’t always transition well to movies.
Drama is easier to transition through mediums.
Joan Crawford might be a consideration. She did a few flapper roles in the silents, and won an Oscar later on. She was great at doing struggling middle class types.
She also did silent porn.
Her silent career hardly qualifies as famous though. I don’t think Joan meets the criteria.
Actually, I disagree. There was one woman I couldn’t remember who had a decent career in the silents but her talkie career was so prominent her work in silent films is now largely dismissed, making her a perfect nominee for this thread.
And @Two_Many_Cats2 nailed it.
Although Marion Davies is possibly better known today for being William Randolph Hearst’s long-term mistress, she was a genuine silent film star, one of the most popular actresses of the early 1920s. She transitioned to the talkies fairly well despite a persistent stutter (not apparent in her talkie roles due to intensive speech therapy and coaching). Her career declined during the Great Depression, and I don’t think any of her talkie movies are much remembered today, but at least early in the talkie era she was still starring in some big hits.
Keaton sold his production company to MGM and lost all creative control. He also pissed off Louis B. Mayer.
He also had an alcohol problem.
Greta Garbo was the first name that came to mind but Chaplin is an interesting option. Certainly an even bigger silent star than Garbo. As stated only the Great Dictator of his sound films really made a long-lasting impact but I am not sure that any of the Garbo sound films or even all of them combined are remembered today more than the Great Dictator.
Edit: I guess it depends on whether we are talking fame during the star’s career or today. For the former I would go with Garbo and the latter with Chaplin.
This comes from one of her seamier biographies. First, there’s no evidence at all that she did what today is called porn, meaning a sexual act on film. Film historians disagree whether she ever made soft-core films or appeared nude. One site says she was in about a half dozen named films. Another says those titles are all from one single film, The Casting Couch, which is lost and no one knows whether Crawford was even in it.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Crawford danced nude on film, for something that may or may not have been what was called a stag film. She was a noted beauty in a time when nudity was increasingly accepted, even in major movies. But as far as I know, not a single frame of any such picture survives today for proof.
As for her stardom, she was definitely a rising young actress, but not as big as Loy or Gaynor in silents, IMHO.
After you run a train off a bridge, it’s all downhill from there.