Everything about Norman Kerry totally explained
Norman Kerry (
June 16,
1894 –
January 12,
1956) was a
U.S. actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of
World War I.
Biography
Born
Arnold Kaiser in
Rochester, New York of
German parentage, he changed his decidedly German name to 'Norman Kerry' at the onset of World War I.
Around 1916 he befriended
Rudolph Valentino, then an exhibition dancer of some renown, in
New York City. He is said to have introduced Valentino to dancer
Bonnie Glass who became Valentino's partner; Valentino in turn encouraged Kerry to try making a name for himself in film. (Later, Kerry would help out Valentino financially when the two met again in
California.) Kerry made his first film appearance in the 1916
Allan Dwan directed comedy
Manhattan Madness, starring
Douglas Fairbanks. He would rise to leading actor status the following year in the
Marshall Neilan directed
A Little Princess, playing opposite actress
Mary Pickford. In 1918, Kerry followed his success with
A Little Princess in the
William Desmond Taylor directed
Up the Road with Sallie, opposite
Constance Talmadge.
Kerry's career flourished during the
silent film era of the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s and he quickly became a matinee idol who was extremely popular with female fans. With his slicked back hair and thin, waxed moustache, he was often cast in the role of the heroic dashing swashbuckler or the exotic, seductive lothario. By 1923, Kerry was a very well respected leading man and box-office draw. That year he starred in two much talked about films: the enormous box-office hit
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, opposite
Lon Chaney and
Patsy Ruth Miller and the controversial
Merry-Go-Round opposite newcomer
Mary Philbin. Kerry was cast in
Merry-Go-Round by the famous Austrian director
Erich von Stroheim to play von Stroheim's alter-ego 'Count Franz Maximilian Von Hohenegg', but studio executive
Irving Thalberg fired von Stroheim during filming and had to be replaced by director
Rupert Julian. Although controversial at the time, the film is now considered a classic.
Kerry would again be paired with Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in the 1925 horror classic
The Phantom of the Opera, playing Philbin's love-interest, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny. The film was an enormous financial and critical success and solidified Kerry's position as a leading actor during the 1920s. That same year Kerry would star opposite Patsy Ruth Miller in the adventure film
Lorraine of the Lions, although the film didn't achieve nearly the degree of success as
The Phantom of the Opera. In 1927 Kerry would again share the screen with Lon Chaney, Sr. in the
Tod Browning directed horror film
The Unknown with
Joan Crawford. Kerry was cast as a circus
strongman, despite his evident lack of a muscular physique. He would spend the decade appearing in high-profile roles opposite such famous actresses of the era as:
Anna Q. Nilsson,
Marion Davies,
Bebe Daniels,
Mildred Harris,
ZaSu Pitts,
Joan Crawford,
Lillian Gish and
Claire Windsor.
At the beginning of the
talkie era he and Mary Philbin reunited to film talking scenes for the 1930 reissue of "Phantom of the Opera". On the surviving soundtrack both stars are stiff and awkward, speaking with exaggerated diction. This was Philbin's only sound film, and the beginning of Kerry's decline. He was cast in the 1931 film
Bachelor Apartment, opposite silent the film star
Mae Murray. The film was critically panned at the time of release and both Murray and Kerry's careers in the new medium of sound quickly waned. Kerry would only make three more film appearances before retiring from acting.
Later in life Kerry joined the
French Foreign Legion, returning to the U.S. only when France was invaded by
Nazi Germany.
Norman Kerry died in
Los Angeles, California at the age of 61 in 1956 and was interred at
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City,
Los Angeles County, California.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Norman Kerry was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6724 Hollywood Blvd., in
Hollywood, California.
Filmography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Norman Kerry'.
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